Pawan Kalyan’s meeting with Chandrababu Naidu sparks alliance talks with BJP

Amaravati, March 6 (IANS) – Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan met Telugu Desam Party President N. Chandrababu Naidu at the latter’s residence on Wednesday. The leaders discussed the possibility of having BJP as an alliance partner for the upcoming elections to Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan are expected to travel to Delhi to further discuss the issue with the BJP leadership. The state BJP leaders are reportedly in favor of forming an alliance with the TDP-JSP combine to challenge the ruling YSR Congress. State BJP chief D. Purandeswari mentioned that the final decision on the alliance will be made by the party’s central leadership.

The TDP and Jana Sena leaders have also talked about the second list of candidates for their respective parties. The seat-sharing agreement was announced on February 24, with TDP leaving 24 out of 175 Assembly and three out of 25 Lok Sabha seats for Jana Sena. Additionally, TDP announced its first list of 94 candidates while Jana Sena released the list of five candidates on the same day.

Pawan Kalyan has been pushing for the BJP to join the alliance to prevent the split of anti-YSRCP votes. Chandrababu Naidu had discussions in Delhi on the possibility of a tripartite electoral alliance with BJP leaders earlier this year. Despite the friendly ties between Jagan government and Modi government, TDP expressed interest in reviving the alliance after experiencing a major defeat in the 2019 elections.