Keen to stich alliance, TDP cozying up to BJP top brass, claims YSR Cong

Days after TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu visited the national capital, the YSR Congress on Thursday claimed he was "buttering up" the BJP top brass to forge an alliance with the ruling party at the Centre after ditching them ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Addressing a press conference here, YSR Congress national general secretary Vijaysai Reddy said it is "reliably learnt that Naidu has offered 13 Lok Sabha seats out of total 25 in Andhra Pradesh to the BJP and in return would like to have more assembly seats".

Reddy made it clear that YSR Congress' issue-based support to the NDA would continue but it would not join the BJP-led alliance.

The YSR Congress is the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh.

"TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu is buttering top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to stitch an alliance with the ruling party at the Centre," he claimed.

Asked how his party would be impacted if the TDP join hands with the BJP, which is already in alliance with Jan Sena, Reddy replied that it would not have much effect.

"Our (YSR Congress') vote share in last assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh was about 50 per cent and it has gone further up after that. Even if three parties -- BJP, TDP, Jan Sena -- come together, it wouldn't impact us much," Reddy said.

Dubbing Naidu the "most selfish politician", Reddy said he "ditched" BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It is for BJP to see whether the party can trust him, the YSR Congress leader said.

Asked about Naidu's demand of imposing president's rule in the state, Reddy alleged that the TDP supremo "wants to show the state in a poor light by making false and fabricated allegations".

On YSR Congress' relations with the BJP, Reddy said his party will continue to give issue-based support to the NDA but will not join the ruling alliance.

"Our chief minister and YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2019 had decided that the party will extend issue-based support to the NDA but will not join the BJP-led ruling alliance at the Centre. That is our stand at present and we will continue to follow that," he said.

Reddy also downplayed the idea of a third front, saying there is no leader, no binding force who can coordinate and bind all parties together.