Andhra Pradesh: Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP, TDP, and Jana Sena Alliance reach seat sharing agreement ahead of polls

After meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu is still in New Delhi to meet Shah again to seal the deal between the three parties – BJP, TDP and Jana Sena . According to sources, the BJP is eyeing seven Lok Sabha seats in the state and more than 20 assembly seats. While TDP may agree to give seven LS seats, it may want to give lower assembly seats to BJP.

“First, we have agreed to fight the upcoming polls together. TDP will be a part of NDA. Right now, seat sharing and other modalities are being worked out. A meeting between our leader Chandrababu Naidu and of home minister Amit Shah has already happened. There are some outstanding issues that will be sorted out in the second meeting on Friday night,” TDP MP K Ravindra Kumar told ET.

Naidu is supposed to return to Vijayawada on Friday afternoon. However, he was asked to wait for another meeting with Shah.

According to sources, the seats demanded by the BJP for the Lok Sabha are Araku, Hindupur, Tirupati, Rajampet, Rajahmundry, Narasapuram and Visakhapatnam. In the first meeting, TDP offered four seats to BJP including Tirupati, Araku, Rajahmundry and Rajampet.

The TDP lost Visakhapatnam in 2019 by just 4,400 votes and the party thinks it has a fair chance of winning that seat. In 2014, the BJP was the runner-up in the Tirupati Lok Sabha polling 37,000 votes. State BJP leaders believe that the party is likely to win this seat if it is in alliance with the TDP. The alliance will be announced once the parties reach a final agreement on the number of seats each party will contest.