TDP-BJP alliance in Seemandhra has survived the scare of a breakup after the two sides ironed out differences on a host of issues and the BJP agreed to surrender one more Assembly seat to its senior partner in the State. The two parties reached the agreement with just a day left for the filing of nominations in 25 lok Sabha and 175 Assembly constituencies in Seemandhra region.
The agreement came after two days of intense bargaining and discussions between the leaders of the two parties. Efforts picked up the pace after BJP general secretary Prakash Javadekar met TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu at latter’s residence in Hyderabad on Friday morning and another senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu also entered the scene.
Chandrababu Naidu, who had publicly expressed his unhappiness with the BJP during his roadshow in Vizianagaram on Thursday for fielding weak candidates, returned to Hyderabad on Thursday night for talks with the BJP leader. Similarly, Seemandhra unit BJP chief K Hari Babu was camping in Hyderabad in view of the worsening crisis between the two parties to find an amicable solution.
With the TDP going public with its grievances and demanding the BJP to return at least four of the 14 Assembly seats in Seemandhra region, the future of the alliance had appeared bleak.
The TDP was demanding the BJP to return seven Assembly seats in Seemandhra and also replacing some of the candidates in lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies. The Assembly seats, which the TDP wanted back from the BJP, include Tadepalligudem, Narsaraopeta, Kadapa, Nellore Rural, Madanapalle and Santhanutanapadu and Itchapuram. TDP sources said that while the BJP has agreed to give back Itchapuram, talks were continuing on other seats and a clear position will emerge later Friday night.
After meeting Chandrababu Naidu, Javadekar held another round of talks with the party leaders — including Venkaiah Naidu and Hari Babu. TDP leaders Sujana Chowdhary and Rammohan Rao were also present in the talks. “Our alliance is intact. There are no differences between us,” Javdekar, accompanied by the leaders of the TDP announced before the media.
“Talks were held in a very congenial atmosphere,” he said. Hari Babu said that when two parties enter into an alliance, differences were natural. First indication of talks moving in a positive direction for the two parties came when Chandrababu Naidu, Parkash Javdekar and another BJP leader Raj Purohit had lunch together.
later the talks between the other leaders moved to Venkaiah Naidu’s residence while Chandrababu left for election campaign in Krishna district in the afternoon. After a prolong discussion and intense bargaining earlier this month, the TDP had agreed to give 45 Assembly and eight lok Sabha seats in Telangana and 15 Assembly and five lok Sabha seats in Seemandhra for the BJP.
However faced with the scarcity of good candidates, the BJP surrendered one Assembly and one lok Sabha seat back to the TDP. But serious differences erupted between the two parties when many TDP lok Sabha candidates complained that the BJP was fielding weak candidates in Assembly segments under their constituencies. Matters worsened after the TDP announced the candidates for Rajampeta and Narsapuram lok Sabha constituencies on Wednesday fielding Chandrababu Naidu’s estranged sister-in-law D Purandeswari and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Gokaraju Ganga Raju.
BJP leaders were also irritated by the attempt of Chandrababu Naidu to diktat whom, the BJP should field. Naidu was keen that the BJP ticket from Narsapuram should go to an industrialist Raghurama Krishnam Raju who had joined the BJP after quitting YSR Congress Party.
Sources said Naidu had promised the industrialist BJP’s ticket from Narsapuram. Apart from these irritants, Naidu was also piqued by two other developments. One was the threat of film star and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan threatening to field candidates against TDP candidates in eight constituencies including Vijayawada and second was reported unwillingness of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to share dais during the campaign in Andhra Pradesh.
Sources said that the leaders of the two parties had open and frank discussions on all these issues. However, whether Modi will be sharing the dais with Naidu will be known when all the details of the fresh agreement are announced by the two parties. While the TDP demanded the return of four to six Assembly constituencies in Seemandhra in exchange of two legislative council seats, the BJP agreed to surrender only in Itchapuram under Srikakulam lok Sabha constituency.
For Chandrababu Naidu an embarrassing situation had arisen in Srikakulam constituency where its candidate K Rammohan Rao had stopped his campaign demanding the return of Itchapuram. He alleged that the BJP’s presence there was affecting his prospects.