As Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is rushing to New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party top leadership, speculations began in the media on what the BJP would ask for if the alliance materialises.
According to these speculations, the BJP has already prepared its charter of demands as part of talks with the TDP over a possible alliance. The BJP might ask for 10 Lok Sabha seats and 10 assembly seats as part of the alliance.
It is learnt the BJP might insist on the seats which it had represented in the past, besides the places where it stood second. These seats would be placed before Naidu and seek his party’s stand.
According to the sources, the BJP might ask for Araku, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Eluru or Narasapuram, Kakinada, Machilipatnam, Ongole or Nellore, Tirupati, Rajampet and Anantapur or Hindupur Lok Sabha seats, besides 10 assembly seats where the party claims to be strong.
Sources said Amit Shah had obtained central intelligence reports on the party position in various constituencies, the possibility of the TDP cadre extending support and also the equations with Jana Sena Party with which it already has an alliance.
However, many of the seats the BJP is asking overlap with the seats being demanded by the Jana Sena Party as part of alliance with the TDP. If the BJP insists on the seats, it will be a big headache for Naidu to satisfy both the alliance partners.
This would make the entire alliance clumsy.
“The people also might not appreciate the TDP-Jana Sena Party joining hands with the BJP, which has done a lot of injustice to the state in the last 10 years,” sources said.