VIJAYAWADA: After an eight-hour-long meeting on Monday, the TDP, JSP and BJP finalised the number of seats that each of the parties will contest for the ensuing Assembly and general elections.
According to the joint statement released by the three parties, the TDP will be contesting 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP has been allotted 10 Assembly and six MP seats, and the JSP will field candidates for two Parliament and 21 Assembly constituencies. Names of the candidates will be announced subsequently by the respective parties.
As per the first list of candidates released by the TDP and JSP, the latter was to contest 24 Assembly and three Lok Sabha seats.
JSP gives up 3 seats
JSP was to contest 24 Assembly seats earlier & the BJP was likely to contest six segments. However, the BJP succeeded in increasing its seat count to 10 with the JSP giving up three of its seats and TDP letting go of one.
‘Interests of State a key factor of seat sharing’
In 2014, the BJP had contested 12 Assembly and four MP seats. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda held negotiations with TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu at the latter’s residence.
JSP chief Pawan Kalyan and Political Affairs Committee chairman Nadendla Manohar were also present. Incidentally, BJP State chief Daggubati Purandeswari was not part of the talks.
The joint statement read, “The meeting sought to forge a formidable combination of seats for every alliance partner that truly represents the people of Andhra Pradesh and their aspirations. All parties agreed to make the interests of the State and its future the utmost priority and a key driving factor of the seat sharing discussion. We hope this will lay the foundation for a bright and progressive future. We are confident that the people will bless the NDA partners with an opportunity to serve them to the best of our capabilities.”
Stating that the BJP’s position in the State has changed now, a senior party leader said, “There are more aspirants and the saffron party’s vote share has also surged over the last 10 years. Initially, we had demanded 13 seats. Contesting less seats than what we wanted would send a wrong signal to the cadre. Hence, we put pressure on the alliance partners to concede at least four seats.”
He added that JSP came forward to sacrifice its seats to keep the alliance intact.
It has been learnt that the BJP is keen on contesting a few seats where the YSRC is likely to field Muslim candidates. These include Madanapalle and Kadiri in Rayalaseema region and also one constituency in Guntur district. Sources said the BJP also wanted to contest Jammalamadugu seat in YSR district where it has a strong leader in C Adinarayana Reddy.
Besides seat sharing, the leaders also reportedly held talks on chalking out a joint manifesto.
JSP names one more candidate
The JSP on Monday announced Kandula Durgesh as its candidate to contest the Nidadavolu Assembly seat. Durgesh aspired to contest Rajahmundry Urban seat but he would be contesting from Nidadavolu now