BJP leaders fly down to Vijayawada for seat-sharing talks with TDP, JSP

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Baijayant Panda, and Pawan Kalyan discuss seat-sharing with Chandrababu Naidu for upcoming elections.

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president Baijayant Panda and Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu at his residence here on Monday to discuss the seat-sharing formula for the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State, in the wake of an alliance being finalised between the three parties recently.

TDP State president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, TDP MLAs A. Satya Prasad and Gottipati Ravi Kumar and JSP political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar were present.

Clarity on the final number of seats which the three parties will share is likely to emerge in a day or two, according to a source in the BJP, who told The Hindu that BJP State president Daggubati Purandeswari had earlier called on Mr. Shekhawat and Mr. Panda and expressed her views on which seats the party should seek and the strategy to win them.

Mr. Shekhawat and Mr. Panda reached Vijayawada on the evening of March 10 (Sunday) and straightaway got down to business by holding deliberations with Mr. Pawan Kalyan at their hotel. They went into a huddle with Mr. Naidu on Monday morning in order to arrive at a decision at the earliest. It is learnt that an in-principle decision has been taken by the alliance partners that the BJP shall contest six Lok Sabha seats and six Assembly seats, while the JSP will contest two Lok Sabha seats and field candidates in 24 Assembly constituencies.

The TDP has already announced candidates for 94 Assembly seats and the JSP for six Assembly seats, including Kandula Durgesh for Nidadavole on Monday. The JSP initially wanted to contest three Lok Sabha constituencies, and it remains to be seen what the final seat-sharing formula will look like.