Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is flying to New Delhi on Thursday morning, amidst intense speculations over striking a deal with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming elections in the state.
According to party sources, Naidu received a call from the BJP national leadership on Wednesday evening asking him to come to Delhi on Thursday.
Though there is a talk that Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, too, got a call from Delhi, but there is no confirmation in this regard.
Apparently, the party national leaders extended the invitation to Naidu after holding talks with BJP state president Daggubati Purandeshwari, who went to the national capital on Wednesday morning.
Reports from New Delhi indicate that the BJP national leadership, which was initially reluctant to join hands with the TDP, finally considered Purandeshwari’s request and agreed to join the alliance of the TDP and Jana Sena.
There are, however, conflicting reports on the number of seats to be allotted to the BJP by the TDP-Jana Sena Party alliance. According to one report, the BJP is likely to get 10 assembly seats and five Lok Sabha seats.
Another report said the saffron party would be given five MP seats and nine assembly seats. A third report said the BJP would get five four Lok Sabha seats, one Rajya Sabha seat (after two years) and eight MLA seats.
The five Lok Sabha seats include: Araku, Rajahmundry, Narsapuram, Tirupati and Rajampet/Hindupur. And the nine assembly seats to be allotted to the BJP are: Guntur (West), Visakhapatnam (north), Jammalamadugu, Kaikaluru, Dharmavaram and Kalahasti, besides one more seat each in Tirupati, East Godavari and Anantapur districts.
If the alliance works out, all the three parties – TDP, Jana Sena Party and the BJP would release a common election manifesto. It is expected to be done at a public meeting to be held in Tirupati or Amaravai, sources said.
