TDP-BJP alliance back on track

April 18, 2014 11:45 pm | Updated May 21, 2016 12:02 pm IST - HYDERABAD

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday ironed out their differences over sharing of Assembly seats in the Seemandhra region.

BJP national spokesman Prakash Javadekar was closeted with TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu for over three hours on Friday to sort out the differences. The BJP will give up the Itchapuram Assembly constituency and the TDP, in return, will give it three Legislative Council seats. The former will now contest four Lok Sabha and 13 Assembly seats in Seemandhra.

The BJP agreed to change three candidates for the Lok Sabha election who the TDP found to be weak. Mr. Naidu said on Thursday the BJP had hurt TDP’s chances in the Lok Sabha election by fielding “weak” candidates in some constituencies.

Daggubati Purandeswari, who was central to the differences between the two parties, said she would contest the Rajampet Lok Sabha seat. Ms. Purandeswari, who was eyeing the Vijayawada constituency, will file her papers on Saturday, the last day for doing so in Seemandhra.

Mr. Naidu was reportedly upset with the BJP for fielding Ms. Purandeswari, his sister-in-law, for the Lok Sabha election. The BJP originally wanted to field her either from Vijayawada or Ongole but had to opt for Rajampet as the TDP did not concede those seats. The TDP chief was miffed with the BJP for ignoring Raghuram Krishnam Raju, a businessman, for the Narsapur Lok Sabha constituency. Mr. Raju filed the papers as a candidate of both TDP and BJP on Thursday.

At a press conference, Mr. Javadekar said the BJP would be contesting in the Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Narsapur and Rajampet Lok Sabha constituencies. “Most of the time, the discussions centred on electoral strategy, joint campaigns and how the alliance could be made more effective, productive and result-oriented,” he said.

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