TD-JS-BJP finalise seat sharing deal

Vijayawada: Top leaders of TD-JS-BJP held talks for several hours to finalise the seat sharing deal ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls for Andhra Pradesh, here on Monday. TD national president N. Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat and another senior leader Baijayant Panda, both representing the BJP, met at Naidu’s residence in Vundavalli and held discussions from morning to late at night.

Accordingly, out of a total number of 175 Assembly seats and 25 LS seats, TD is to contest from 144 Assembly and 17 LS segments while JS to contest from 21 Assembly and two LS segments and BJP to contest from 10 Assembly and six LS segments. TD-JS-BJP issued a joint statement later stating that they had decided to contest the Assembly and LS polls together in AP under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The statement said they were committed to the progress and development of AP and the uplift of the people with an aspiration to make India a global leader.

The statement said, “the meeting sought to forge a formidable combination of seats for every alliance partner that



truly represents the people of AP and their aspirations. All parties agreed to make the interests of the state and its future the utmost priority and key driving factor of the seat-sharing discussion. We hope this will lay foundation for a bright and progressive future.” Though both TD and JS announced their first list of contestants for 99 Assembly segments with JS’ share of five seats, the JS announced another candidate by naming its senior leader Kandula Durgesh for Nidadavole. Thus, both TD and JS announced names for 100 Assembly seats so far and the second list of candidates is expected to be announced shortly.

Moreover, though the three parties arrived at an agreement on the number of both Assembly and LS seats to contest, the onus lies with them to select the right candidates with victory chances being the main criteria. With elections just a few days away and the ECI is expected to issue poll notification anytime soon, the political parties too are getting ready to name the contestants and give them adequate time to reach out to the voters. With this, AP is going to witness election buzz soon.