After several hiccups, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party appear to be inching closer towards seat-sharing in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
A day after the BJP declared its intention to go it alone as the TDP did not agree to its demand for 45-48 Assembly and nine Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and 25 Assembly and five Lok Sabha seats in Seemandhra, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu spoke to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, national president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar on Sunday.
Sources said Mr. Singh told Mr. Naidu that the BJP, in principle, was keen on an alliance with the TDP. He reportedly pointed out to Mr. Naidu that the national leadership favoured a tie-up in spite of resistance from the State unit.
The TDP might agree to offer 40-45 Assembly and eight Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and four Lok Sabha and 15 Assembly seats in Seemandhra. The BJP, however, is keen on five LS seats in Seemandhra.
BJP Telangana unit president G. Kishan Reddy, who is leaving for Delhi on Monday with the list of probable candidates for clearance by the central parliamentary board, however, said nobody from the Central leadership had got in touch with him.
