It is more or less confirmed that Telugu Desam Party headed by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu will have an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party along with Jana Sena Party led by power star Pawan Kalyan.
According to reports coming from New Delhi, the TDP president appeared to be relieved after holding talks with Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda, as the BJP leadership has finally given the green signal to him to return to the NDA fold.
The TDP leaders are happy that Naidu’s intense lobbying for the last couple of years to build bridges with the BJP by sending feelers and holding meetings with top leaders have finally paid off.
At the same time, Naidu is also a little tense with the BJP joining the TDP-Jana Sena Party alliance, because it has made the seat-sharing issue a little more complex. While he can bargain with Pawan Kalyan to some extent, he cannot dare do that with the BJP national leadership.
Though the TDP leaders were given the impression that the BJP would not insist on more number of assembly seats but might ask a good number of Lok Sabha seats, latest reports indicate that the BJP is learnt to be demanding 25 assembly seats and eight Lok Sabha seats.
At the same time, Naidu has almost struck the deal with the Jana Sena Party for 26 assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats. If Naidu has to concede 25 assembly seats to the BJP, the TDP will be left with just 124 seats to contest.
If Naidu has to come to power on his own in the state, he will have to win at least 90 out of these 124 seats, which he knows is extremely difficult. Moreover, it will also cause a lot of disgruntlements within the party.
So, he is said to be trying to bargain with the BJP with regard to the assembly seats. According to party sources, Naidu might ask the BJP to confine to around 10 assembly seats and six Lok Sabha seats, so that the TDP will have at least 140 seats to contest.
Sources, however, said the BJP’s strategy is to make Naidu depend on it for survival.
“Both the BJP and Jana Sena Party appear to have come to an understanding that it should be a coalition government in Andhra Pradesh, rather than the TDP government alone,” sources said.
The BJP knows very well that if the TDP gets absolute majority on its own, Naidu will not hesitate to dump the alliance partner.
“If there is a coalition government, Naidu would have no option but to listen to the alliance partners. That will be an advantage for the BJP to grow independently at a later stage,” sources said.