BJP leaders meet Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan in Vijayawada to finalise seat-sharing talks

VIJAYAWADA: In its first meeting after forging an alliance in Andhra Pradesh, top BJP leaders flew down to Andhra Pradesh to meet Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan to discuss seat-sharing formula for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State.

On Monday, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda and JSP president Pawan Kalyan met TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu at his Undavalli residence on Monday. TDP State president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, TDP MLAs A Satya Prasad and Gottipati Ravi Kumar and JSP political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar were also present.

A joint statement issued by the three parties last week read that clarity on the final number of seats would emerge in a day or two. A day before meeting Chandrababu Naidu, Shekhawat and Panda had met Pawan Kalyan.

According to sources, the saffron party could be offered six Lok Sabha and an equal number of Assembly constituencies as part of the alliance. The TDP wants to allocate Araku, Rajahmundry, Narasapuram, Tirupati, Hindupur, and Rajampet Parliament constituencies. The JSP is expected to contest in two out of the three seats: Anakapalle, Kakinada, and Machilipatnam.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to virtually address the ‘Pradhan Mantri Su-Raj’ programme across all the 26 districts of the State. During the programme, Modi would interact with the beneficiaries of various Central Government-sponsored schemes. There were speculations that the Prime Minister would take part in the TDP-JSP public meeting at Chilakaluripet on March 17 but that has not been confirmed yet.