Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on 6 April 2014 announced the much expected pre-election alliance in Andhra Pradesh (AP) after a hard bargaining for weeks.
Election to both Lok Sabha and the State Assembly is to be held simultaneously in AP in two schedules - on 30 April in Telangana and on 7 May in Seemandhra. Post the poll, Telangana will be carved away on 2 June as a separate state, leaving the residual Seemandhra region as the Andhra Pradesh.
BJP has already got into a pre-election partnership in Tamil Nadu with a six-party group, which include Vijaykant-led DMDK, Vaiko-led MDMK, Anbumani Ramadoss-headed PMK, R Pachamuthu-led IJK and Eshwaran-led KMDK. BJP has considerable hold in Karnataka as BS Yeddyurappa had formed its south India's first government in the state in 2008. For BJP, the poll tie-up is seen as a boost to root itself further in south India.
As per the pre-poll tie-up agreement with TDP, BJP will contest five Lok Sabha seats and 15 Assembly seats in Seemandhra, which has 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly constituencies. BJP will field its candidates in eight Lok Sabha seats and 47 Assembly seats in Telangana, which has 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly constituencies.
TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu and BJP's spokesperson Javadekar, Treasurer Piyush Goel, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral jointly said that the pre-election tie-up has been clinched by keeping in view of the nation's as well as Telangana and Seemandhra's welfare. Naidu called upon the electorate to root out Congress party in this general elections as it has patronized corruption in its regime.
Naresh Gujral is said to have mediated to fructify the alliance between BJP and TDP. Cadre of both BJP and TDP in some regions of AP had opposed the alliance and delayed the deal.
Naidu expressed confidence that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would win at least 300 seats in the Lok Sabha election to form a stable and efficient government at the Centre. Even the recent opinion polls have predicted majority seats for NDA. A pre-poll by NDTV has said that NDA may win 259 seats and CNN-IBN has even predicted more than 260 seats. A party or an alliance group should have 272 or more members in the 543-member strong Lok Sabha to form the next government.
Naidu said that to build a corruption-free India, there is a need to reform all sectors in the country. To fulfill this goal, TDP has got into an alliance with BJP, he added. Daggubati Purandeswari, a BJP leader who has joined the party from Congress recently, said the tie-up would help both parties in AP.
BJP-TDP state-level leaders also played a key role in realizing the pre-poll pact.
Javadekar described this alliance as historical. BJP national leaders - Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley also spoke to Chandrababu Naidu during the last 20 days in the alliance discussions, he added. Naresh Gujral said that a key role is awaiting for Chandrababu Naidu in NDA affairs.
