The seat-sharing talks between the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party hit a road block on Sunday with the two sides remaining firm on their stances. The BJP insists on six Lok Sabha and 25 Assembly seats in Seemandhra and 11 and 62, respectively, in Telangana.
Senior party leader Prakash Javadekar, who was in the city to hold unofficial negotiations, left on Sunday to seek the direction of the central leadership. “The TDP is not ready to concede the number of seats we are asking. Our people are also adamant in their stand,” a senior BJP leader said.
The TDP leaders say conceding the number of seats demanded by the BJP will mean their party has to forgo two sitting seats. The BJP is sure to gain from the alliance as it will not be in a position to win more than two Lok Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh if it prefers to go it alone,” a leader said.
The TDP leaders are, however, sure that an accord will be reached in a few days. “An agreement will sure be there, but we can’t say at the moment how it is going to be,” one of them said. When contacted by The Hindu over telephone, Mr. Javadekar refused to divulge the details of the negotiations and the points where the talks reached a stalemate. “We will definitely let you know when something happens,” was all he has to say. The ongoing impasse had its impact on the prospects of the proposed grand alliance among the TDP, the BJP, the Jana Sena of Pawan Kalyan and the Lok Satta Party of Jayaprakash Narayan.
“We planned to utilise Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s services in the campaign had the talks progressed smoothly. Mr. Kalyan has good backing of the youth and he is a crowd-puller,” a BJP leader said.
