Pawan Kalyan meets Chandrababu Naidu amid talk of alliance with BJP

Amaravati, March 6 (IANS) Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan met Telugu Desam Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu at the latter's residence here on Wednesday.

The two leaders are understood to have discussed having BJP as alliance partner for the ensuing elections to Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan are likely to visit Delhi to discuss the issue with the BJP leadership.

While announcing their seat-sharing agreement last month, the TDP and Jana Sena leaders have stated that doors are open for BJP to join the alliance.

Majority of state BJP leaders are believed to be in support of an alliance with the TDP-JSP combine to take on ruling YSR Congress. State BJP chief D. Purandeswari has stated that the decision on alliance will be taken by the party’s central leadership.

The TDP and Jana Sena leaders also reported to have discussed the second list of candidates of their respective parties.

The two parties announced their seat-sharing agreement on February 24. The TDP has left 24 out of 175 Assembly and three out of 25 Lok Sabha seats for Jana Sena.

The same day, TDP announced its first list of 94 candidates while Jana Sena released the list of five candidates.

Chandrababu Naidu had also stated that if BJP comes forward to join the alliance, they will hold talks and take an appropriate decision.

Jana Sena, which is part of BJP-led NDA, joined hands with the TDP even before a decision by the saffron party. Pawan Kalyan had long been trying to convince the BJP leadership to join the alliance to ensure that anti-YSRCP votes do not split.

Chandrababu Naidu had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President J. P. Nadda in Delhi on February 7 to discuss a tripartite electoral alliance for forthcoming elections.

The TDP leaders had claimed that the meeting was held at the BJP’s invitation. However, no decision was taken on the alliance.

TDP, which had snapped ties with the BJP in 2018, evinced interest in reviving the alliance after suffering crushing defeat in 2019 elections. However, the BJP had been cold to Naidu’s overtures as the Jagan government in the state had maintained friendly ties with the Modi government at the Centre and extended support to it in the Parliament in passing several key bills.