VIJAYAWADA: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan are learnt to have mainly discussed the issue of seat sharing between the two parties in the ensuing elections during their talks at the latter’s residence in Hyderabad on Sunday. According to party sources, both leaders have also discussed the finalisation of the combined election manifesto at the earliest and the announcement of the candidates within a month.
“As the election atmosphere has already prevailed in the State, both the leaders might have discussed about reaching an understanding on the number of seats to be contested by each party so as to give clarity for the ticket aspirants at the earliest,” a TDP Politburo member said.
Mentioning that the TDP had already announced its first part of the election manifesto with six schemes targeting youth, women and farmers, he said some of the suggestions made by the JSP have also been included later and leaders of both the parties are now focusing on preparation of the full-fledged manifesto, which will be released by Naidu and Pawan Kalyan.
Once the full-fledged combined manifesto of the TDP-JSP is ready, both the leaders will focus on taking it to the people by way of organising roadshows and public meetings, another TDP leader told TNIE.
As of now, the TDP and JSP are trying to strengthen the alliance, and initiating coordinated efforts so that there may not be any differences between the TDP and JSP cadres as it helps ensure the smooth transfer of votes between two the parties, the TDP leader explained.
As the election notification is expected to be released in February or March, the TDP and the JSP have expedited the process of reaching an understanding on seat sharing, and clarity in this regard is expected before or after Sankranti, the TDP leader revealed.
Asked how many seats the JSP is likely to get out of the total 175, he said though he is unaware of the exact number of seats demanded by Pawan Kalyan, going by the talk within the TDP he has understood that the number may be close to 35, while the TDP is ready to give it 25 seats.