TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, along with his ally Jana Sena party chief and Telugu film star Pawan Kalyan, met home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda to work out details of the likely pact for the two contests to be held simultaneously.
Sources said TDP has agreed to leave six LS Sabha seats — Araku, Rajahmundry, Narsapuram, Eluru, Rajampet and Tirupati — for BJP, while resisting the latter’s claim for three more: Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Hindupuram. The details of talks about who gets to contest how many of the 175 assembly seats could not be known but the talks, held at Shah’s residence, were told to be progressing well at the time of filing the report and there was a likelihood of holding a joint presser on Friday.
TDP was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance but exited in 2018 when Naidu was the state’s chief minister.
Sources said if arrangements with allies, including from Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and other states, are finalised, there will be a meeting of the NDA constituents on Sunday, a show of strength showcasing a cohesive front as distinct from the INDIA bloc of opposition parties which is struggling to reach consensus.
Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena, which has been a member of the NDA, aligned with TDP first and has since been urged BJP to follow suit.
The development comes amid growing indications that BJP and Biju Janata Dal, which is in office in Odisha, are on the verge of finalising their alliance as senior leaders of the two parties held separate meetings on Wednesday and dropped hints of such a possibility.
Naidu had met Shah and Nadda in February, bolstering speculation that they were headed for an alliance even though things have not crystallised so far.