In Andhra Pradesh, a recent history is repeating itself. The upcoming 2024 Assembly elections will resemble the 2014 Assembly polls, at least in alliances. The political forces, which had joined hands, is now coming together after a decade of bickering and misunderstandings.
In 2014, Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) aligned with Bharatiya Janatiya Party (BJP) to be a part of National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP) extended support to these two by staying away from contesting.
The coalition of the two regional parties and the national party fought against Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP and won power. But in 2019, they went separate ways and fought independently only to put up a dismal performance. Now, the trio seem to have sealed the deal as the camp announced the first list of candidates.
This time around, unlike in 2014, Jana Sena party will be contesting and has managed to get two dozen seats out of 175 Assembly seats. In the first list, the TDP also announced candidates for 94 seats. A total of 99 names have been made public.
In the joint press meet of Naidu and Pawan Kalyan, the leaders made it clear that they are waiting for BJP to be on board and the names had been finalised with a view to accommodate the saffron party. Pawan Kalyan emphasised on vote transfer for the victory of the alliance. Naidu said that they have decided to work with like-minded parties for the future of the state and its people.
“I have never done so much exercise to shortlist candidates,” said Naidu, referring to TDP’s list. The leaders said that rest of the candidates will also be announced in due course of time.
According to the first list, Naidu will contest from his traditional seat, Kuppam, and his son, Lokesh, from Mangalagiri. Pawan Kalyan is yet to finalise his seat. It has been learnt that the BJP leadership is open to allocation of meagre number of seats for assembly but wants a significant number of Parliament seats.
The TDP and the JSP seem to have almost agreed to these terms of the BJP. The three parties are confident that as a combined force, they will ensure that anti-incumbency votes do not split and will help them capture power in the upcoming elections as was seen a decade back.
