TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan met at the former’s residence on March 6 (Wednesday) and discussed the selection of candidates for 22 Lok Sabha and 57 Assembly constituencies, and the latest political developments vis-a-vis the general elections.
While the TDP has already announced the names of candidates for 94 Assembly constituencies, the JSP has done so for five out of the 24 constituencies allocated to it. Besides, the JSP is going to contest in three Lok Sabha constituencies, which have not been specified as yet.
BJP’s preparations
Their meeting came against the backdrop of BJP State president Daggubati Purandeswari’s departure to New Delhi in the morning for deliberations with her party’s top brass on the election strategy.
The Andhra Pradesh BJP has prepared a tentative list of candidates for all the 25 and 175 Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies respectively (three to five probable candidates per constituency) to take the plunge into the electoral arena on its own if the leadership decides against joining the TDP-JSP alliance.
Also read | Will the TDP-JSP alliance work out
Will TDP join NDA?
It is pertinent to mention here that BJP national president J.P. Nadda recently invited Mr. Naidu to join the NDA, about which the TDP chief has not taken a decision yet, but will have to take a stance as time is running out.
Political grapevine has it that both Mr. Naidu and Mr. Kalyan will be asked to come to New Delhi soon to sort out the issue of alliance as the elections are fast approaching and the notification is expected to be issued later this month.
By announcing the list of candidates, the TDP and JSP have taken a decisive step as the BJP kept dragging its feet on joining the alliance. It remains to be seen how the alliance is likely to shape up if the BJP joins the alliance.
Otherwise, it faces a daunting task of confronting not only the YSR Congress Party but also the TDP-JSP and the Congress party, which is in an upbeat mood ever since Y.S. Sharmila took over its reins.
