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A formal announcement on an electoral alliance between the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Telangana and Seemandhra regions is expected very soon, according to senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu.
"The party will take a decision on political alliances in a week," he told reporters during a brief stopover at Suryapeta in Nalgonda on his way to the Guntur in Seemandhra.
This will be the the first major political tie-up in the two states, as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has almost ruled out the possibility of even a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, leave alone the merger.
TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu and the BJP national leadership had decided to work together much ahead of the election schedule was announced early this month.
Though BJP had tried to position itself to gain in both the regions, its backing for the state bifurcation bill had largely overshadowed the hard bargain it could achieve in favour of Seemandhra in terms of special category status. The anti-bifurcation agitators saw BJP as their last hope to stall the state division especially in the light of the statements made by some of its top leaders after the AP Reorganisation Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Following the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha, the public opinion in Seemandhra instantly turned against BJP as well, much to the discomfort of TDP leadership that was eager to gain from the electoral understanding with the former in this region. Obviously, Naidu wanted to wait a little while to see this negative reaction die down before formalising the political pact struck with BJP.
According to sources, it was decided to announce the alliance last week itself when BJP President Rajnath Singh and senior leader Arun Jaitely visited Hyderabad to participate in a party rally marking the birth of Telangana. But the decision was put off.
Political analysts say the TDP was hoping to gain from the alliance in urban areas, where the "Modi factor" is expected to rally some votes. "On its part, BJP is looking for more number of pre-poll allies and Naidu's party was one such new acquisition," said a senior leader of CPI(M). Number of surveys predicted more Lok Sabha seats for YSR Congress in Seemandhra.
With the Congress and TRS fighting separately, BJP might not get the kind of political space in Telangana if both the parties had merged or fought the elections together, say some political observers. In Telangana, both the TRS and Congress have been trying to eat into TDP's vote base, which has been generally viewed as a party controlled by Seemandhra interests. In this backdrop, the alliance between the BJP and TDP may help both the parties to make their presence felt.
BJP was reportedly seeking to fight from five seats in alliance with TDP in Telangana region. Elections in Telangana and Seemandhra are scheduled to be held on separate dates, on April 30 and May 16, respectively.
