The ‘expected’ electoral alliance between Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be announced after Sankranti festival, TDP polit bureau member and MP Ramesh Rathod has said, adding that the modalities of the alliance are in its final stages.
Mr. Rathod was addressing a media conference here on Monday, where he confirmed the reports of the alliance between the two political outfits.
He said that the partnership with the BJP is being forged to give the country a strong Prime Minister in Narendra Modi and a viable Chief Minister to Telangana in N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Referring to the possible merger of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) with the Congress, the MP said that it was necessary to hasten the State bifurcation process . "The Congress agreed to create Telangana State only when TRS president K. Chandrashekhar Rao promised to merge his party with it," he said.
The TDP leader further said that AICC chief Sonia Gandhi was not pressurising his party men from Seemandhra on the issue of Telangana Bill as she is waiting for a word from Mr. Rao on the merger. He demanded that the Telangana Bill be introduced in Parliament in February to facilitate the creation of the new State before the Lok Sabha elections.