- Monday, February 24, 2025
The Hindu nationalist party is not a strong player in the southern state and a tie-up with the two local parties is expected to boost its chances in the upcoming election.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a major pre-election alliance in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh where it is not a significant player.
According to sources, the Hindu nationalist party finalised seat-sharing talks with two major players of Andhra Pradesh politics — Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by the former chief minister of undivided Andhra, N Chandrababu Naidu; and Jana Sena Party (JSP) led by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan for the general elections likely to kick off next month.
News agency Press Trust of India quoted Ravindra Kumar, a TDP parliamentarian, as saying that the TDP and JSP have decided to work with the BJP in principle for the national polls and the modalities were being discussed.
It may be mentioned here that Andhra Pradesh is set for state elections this year and the alliance will also work towards that. The BJP is expected to contest in six to eight constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 10-12 constituencies in the state assembly. The JSP is likely to contest in three parliamentary and 24 assembly constituencies.
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The BJP is expected to field Kiran Kumar Reddy, the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh who joined the party after shifting base from the opposition Indian National Congress last year.
Andhra Pradesh sends 25 parliamentarians (following the bifurcation into Andhra and Telangana) to the popularly elected Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament. Its assembly has 175 members and is currently governed by the YSR Congress Party led by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
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On Thursday (7), Naidu and Kalyan had crucial talks with Indian home minister Amit Shah, the second most powerful leader in the BJP after Modi, and BJP’s national president JP Nadda, in Delhi. The TDP is also likely to return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
The TDP was once a part of the NDA but quit it in 2018 over the Modi government allegedly ignoring Andhra Pradesh’s financial interests. Naidu was the chief minister of the state then.
The TDP’s tally of parliamentary seats plummeted from 16 in the 2014 general elections to only three in 2019 when it contested alone.
The JSP, which is also a former member of the NDA and has aligned with the TDP, did not win any seat in its debut election in 2019.
Total seats: 25
2019 election result: (25 seats)
YSR Congress won 22
TDP won 3
BJP won 0
JSP won 0
Congress won 0
2014 election result:
TDP won 15
YSR Congress won 8
BJP won 2
Congress won 0
