NDA finalises seat-sharing in Andhra Pradesh, BJP gets 6 Lok Sabha seats

. Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP), an ally of TDP, will contest two seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) sealed its seat-sharing deal with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls as well as the assembly elections in the state.

The TDP, headed by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, will contest on 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The BJP will contest six seats. Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP), an ally of TDP, will contest two seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The state has 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats.

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Meanwhile for the state polls, the TDP will contest 144 seats and the BJP and JSP will contest 10 and 21 seats in the state, respectively.

“Andhra Pradesh has been destroyed badly. The BJP and TDP coming together is a win-win situation for the country and the state.  The alliance will sweep the polls in Andhra Pradesh, he asserted, lashing out at the YSR Congress,” Naidu told the media.

The details of the seats will be shared by the respective parties later.

Importance of the alliance

The TDP and the BJP share old ties. The TDP joined the NDA in 1996 but left after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. It returned to the fold again for the 2014 general elections. But it parted ways in 2018 again over the issue of grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation of Telangana. According to a report by The Hindu, senior TDP feel the alliance will ensure a free and fair election in the state.

“We are confident that Jagan Reddy will use all his might to use the State’s official machinery, including the police force, to make the election work in his favour. They were successful in 2019, as we had fallen out of favour with the BJP. But now, once the alliance [with the BJP] is sealed, it will be difficult for (Reddy) or his party leaders to turn the electioneering in their favour,” a senior TDP leader told the newspaper.  Also, with the BJP on its side, the TDP hopes to give a tough fight to the formidable Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Meanwhile, the BJP also sees an opportunity to grow in Andhra with this alliance and boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “southern push”.  It will also increase the party’s national tally and fulfil the BJP’s target of winning 400 seats.The Lok Sabha election is scheduled to be held in April-May this year.