The suspense over the electoral tie-up between the BJP and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) continued as the saffron party’s Central Election Committee meeting in the national Capital on Monday evening ended with no word on the party having resolved the issue.
With the prolonged talks between the TDP and the State BJP leaders reaching a dead end over the number of seats each party will contest in Andhra Pradesh, the scene had shifted to New Delhi.
Both the parties were hopeful of a positive outcome from the BJP Central Election Committee meeting, but there was no news on the matter. However, a last word on the issue is expected in a couple of days.
Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy and Andhra State chief K Haribabu, along with a few other senior leaders of the party, had reached New Delhi with the list of candidates. While both the State chiefs, backed by the local units of RSS were against any alliance with the TDP, the BJP’s national leaders, especially party president Rajnath Singh and PM-in-waiting Narendra Modi, were keen for a tie-up as they hope that it can yield a larger number of lok Sabha seats for both the parties.
While Kishan Reddy has already declared the talks with the TDP a “closed chapter” due to the adamant attitude of TDP on seat-sharing, Naidu was not willing to take it as a final answer. He directly spoke to Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi urging both the leaders to come up with a an acceptable and reasonable number of seats
In Seemandhra the gap between the two parties’ stand was not unbridgeable, TDP sources said adding that it was too big in Telangana. The Telangana BJP was demanding ten lok Sabha and 45 to 48 Assembly seats. The last offer TDP made was 31 Assembly and six lS seats. However, TDP sources said that it was ready to increase it to 40 and eight respectively.
In case of Seemandhra, BJP was demanding at least 22 Assembly and five lS seats while TDP was willing to give only three lS and eight Assembly seats.
Sources said that the TDP was holding the Telangana State BJP president, G Kishan Reddy, as responsible for the deadlock saying that his demand was exaggerated and not matching the ground realities.
BJP sources, on the other hand, said that if seat-sharing was not possible in Telangana, they can go ahead with a limited understanding with the TDP only in Seemandhra.As far as Telangana was concerned, BJP was spoiled for choices as Telangana Rashtra Samiti was also keen for an alliance with the saffron party.
Convinced that the next coalition Government in New Delhi will be led by the BJP and new State of Telangana will need the support and funding from the Central Government, the TRS wanted to have a tie-up with the BJP.
“KCR (TRS president) has sought the views of the party leaders on possibility of a tie-up with the BJP”, a senior party leader told this correspondent. However such an understanding will not be easy for the TRS for the same reason which created problems for TDP-BJP tie-up. the TRS, which is already facing a huge demand for the election tickets, was willing to give only 20 Assembly and three lok Sabha seats, almost half of what the BJP was getting from the TDP.
If the two parties reach an understanding, it will be the first time that the TRS will be holding the hands of BJP in the State. In 2004 it had an alliance with the Congress and also joined the UPA Government at the Centre and Congress Government in the State as a coalition partner. But very soon the relations broke down. In 2009 TRS tied up with the TDP hoping to play a key role at the Centre in the BJP-led coalition, KCR also met the BJP leaders before the election results. But much to his disappointment, TRS won only two lok Sabha seats and the UPA returned to power with a clear majority of its own.