The fortnight-long alliance and seat-sharing exercise came to an end around noon on Sunday with the TDP conceding 47 Assembly and eight Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and 15 Assembly and five LS seats to the BJP in the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh in the general elections.
TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu said the agenda at the end of the day was corruption-free governance that would propel India forward, fast enough to make up for the 10-year slag, thanks to the UPA’s misrule. “Our aim is to provide a stable and efficient government and honest administration. I am confident that the NDA will end up with 300-plus Lok Sabha seats,” he said.
Delay leads to rebellionThe two parties reached the agreement as the delay was leading to rebellion in the two camps. Even as the formal announcement was being made, there was slogan-shouting by TDP cadres outside Mr. Naidu’s residence. Among constituencies from where cadres protested were those seeking the TDP ticket for Bonda Umamaheswara Rao from Vijayawada Central and from Malkajgiri for sitting Medak MLA of the TDP, Mynampalli Hanumantha Rao.
Earlier, BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar and BJP treasurer Piyush Goyal and NDA co-convenor and Shiromani Akali Dal MP, Naresh Gujral, announced the TDP’s re-entry into the NDA. Others present included Y. Ramakrishnudu of the TDP and senior BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya, while the absence of the BJP’s Telangana State president G. Kishan Reddy was conspicuous.
Javdekar allays fearsWhen asked about Mr. Reddy’s resentment over certain seats, particularly in and around Hyderabad, being allotted to the TDP, Mr. Javdekar said there was nothing like that. “You will see joint campaigns being rolled out soon. We are a democratic party and all of BJP is committed,” he said, appearing to dismiss the idea that Mr. Reddy could be unhappy.
Mr. Naidu, Mr. Javdekar and Mr Goyal hailed the alliance as one that would usher in a ‘corruption-free, Congress-free India’ and put the great nation on the international map. “Any small problems posed by voices of dissent and disappointment will be smoothened out,” they said, adding that now was the time to prepare for the electoral battle to throw the Congress out.
Elections to 119 assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana are scheduled for April 30, while 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Seemandhra will go to the polls on May 7. The breakthrough in alliance talks came on Saturday night at a city hotel after top leaders of the TDP and BJP intervened to remove the hurdles.
