ELECTIONS 2014 The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on 31 March 2014 received a shot in the arm, when Guntur MP and senior Congress leader Rayapati Sambasiva Rao joined it along with his kin and followers in the presence of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad. TDP is likely to field Rayapati in Narasaraopet Lok Sabha constituency against YSRCP's candidate A Ayodhyarami Reddy.
Rayapati's son Mohan Saikrishna, former Guntur mayor and younger brother and former MLC Srinivas also joined TDP along with their large number of followers.
Two other popular Congress former ministers in Krishna district - Mandali Buddha Prasad and Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao are tipped to join TDP.
In another major development, actor Balakrishna, son of TDP founder and legendery actor NT Rama Rao, announced his entry into active politics on 1 April 2014. Balakrishna stated that he will discuss with TDP chief to decide from where to contest in the ensuing elections.
He is yet to decide whether to contest to Lok Sabha or the State Assembly and informed this to media after visiting the Simhadri Appanna, the deity of Simhachalam temple near Visakhapatnam in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The actor's latest film "Legend" is released and is said to be a major success.
Naidu-Balakrishna are close relatives too. Naidu is the son-in-law of late NTR and his son Nara Lokesh married Balakrishna's daughter Brahmani.
Balakrishna planned to enter active politics to fulfill the ideals of his late father NTR and emphasised that people from two to three constituencies were bringing pressure on him to contest in the forthcoming elections. However, he made it clear that he would not leave his acting career even if he joins active politics.
In Telangana, K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) received a setback on Monday, when its MP G Vivekananda, along with his brother G Vinod, joined back in Congress. Vivekananda praised Congress leadership for fulfilling the long-standing demand of Telangana state creation. The new state's formation has been decided to be on 2 June 2014.
Meanwhile, Congress high command is set to release its list of candidates on 4 and 5 April for Telangana and 6 and 7 April for Seemandhra region to contest in the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly election. The party spokesperson Digvijay Singh also stated that the party president Sonia Gandhi will address a public rally in Hyderabad on 16 April.
BJP-TDP Tie-Up Likely to be Announced Shortly, Cong Seeks Priyanka's Canvass in AP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are likely to clinch a pre-election tie-up in Andhra Pradesh (AP) in a day or two, say media reports. If it becomes a reality, BJP would not have any election alliance with Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the state.
The two parties have been bargaining hard over seat-sharing to contest the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections to be held on 30 April and 7 May in AP.
Quoting sources, media reports on 2 April 2014 say that TDP has agreed to allot BJP eight Lok Sabha seats and 45 to 50 Assembly seats in Telangana region of AP. Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly seats. The bargaining by BJP-TDP took place till midnight on Tuesday in Hyderabad and the two sides are said to have come to an understanding over seat-sharing.
In Seemandhra, the BJP leaders were insisting on TDP to agree for an alliance to contest six Lok Sabha seats and about 18 to 20 Assembly seats. Seemandhra region in AP has 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly seats. While TDP is strong in Seemandhra, BJP is perceived to have gained strength in Telangana by backing the cause of separate state for the region.
BJP's Telangana unit president Kishan Reddy had even suggested his party high command to have an electoral alliance with Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which is claiming credit for achieving Telangana state formation and tipped to form government in the new state after winning majority in the ensuing election. However, BJP national leaders like Arun Jaitley are said to have ruled out any poll tie-up with TRS, as they see tie-up with the Nara Chandrababu Naidu-headed TDP more beneficial in AP.
The likely poll tie-up between BJP and TDP has another interesting development in the waiting. Foes in the family of late NT Rama Rao, the TDP founder might come together. Once the BJP-TDP tie up becomes fruitful, former union minister and now BJP leader Purandeswari, NTR's daughter, is likely to come closer to Naidu's TDP group, as the two parties would fight the elections together this time. Naidu is son-in-law of NTR.
It can be recalled here that BJP had also fought elections in 1999 in alliance with TDP and won seven Lok Sabha seats from AP.
TDP, which stood for United Andhra Pradesh for a long time during the movement for creation of Telangana, has been forced to ask for an election alliance with BJP in AP, particularly in Telangana.
And even Jana Sena, floated by actor Pawan Kalyan, is said to have supported the two parties' electoral tie-up. This development may surely affect Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP's chances in Seemandhra region.
Meanwhile, Congress in Seemandhra, which is struggling to regain the lost hold in the region, has requested the party high command to depute Priyanka Gandhi to canvass. Even the party campaign committee chief Chiranjeevi, along with Congress Seemandhra unit president Raghuveera Reddy, has urged his fan clubs to join the party and campaign in the election. The two leaders have promised to give tickets to fans of Chiranjeevi to contest the election.
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