It appears the Telugu Desam Party headed by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has made his alliance partner Pawan Kalyan of Jana Sena Party a big scapegoat, in his eagerness to forge an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
After hectic deliberations with the BJP national leaders, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat and BJP National Vice President Baijayant Panda, the TDP chief made Pawan Kalyan to sacrifice three of the 24 assembly seats and one out of three Lok Sabha seats allotted to the Jana Sena Party.
These seats have now been allotted to the BJP. Of course, the TDP, too, has given away one assembly seat to the BJP.
As a result, the final seat sharing among the TDP, BJP and Jana Sena has been finalised in this formula: The TDP will contest 144 assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha seats; the BJP will contest 10 assembly seats and six Lok Sabha seats and the Jana Sena Party will contest 21 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats.
“The names of the seats will be announced subsequently by the respective parties. We are driven by a desire to fulfil the expectations of the people of Andhra Pradesh. We are confident that the people of Andhra Pradesh will bless the NDA alliance partners with an opportunity to serve them to the best of our capabilities,” a joint statement by the TDP, BJP and the Jana Sena said late on Monday night.
The statement said with this significant step, the people of Andhra Pradesh now stand on the threshold of reclaiming our state and paving the way for a brighter future.
“I humbly call upon my people of Andhra Pradesh to shower their blessings upon this alliance, and grant us a historic mandate to serve them,” Naidu said.