BJP, TDP talks on to finalise alliance

Hyderabad, April 5 (IANS) Hectic talks were continuing between top leaders of the TDP and the BJP for a poll alliance in Andhra Pradesh here Saturday even as the BJP leaders from Telangana want the party to go alone.

With just four days left for the deadline for filing of nominations in Telangana, leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were holding final round of talks.

BJP's central leaders Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Satish Jee and Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral, who is BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's chief negotiator for alliance building, are participating in the talks with the TDP leaders including MPs Sujana Chowdary and C.M. Ramesh.

Earlier, Javadekar met TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu at the latter's residence.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders from Telangana have urged the central leadership not to have an alliance with the TDP. A meeting of BJP's leaders from 10 districts of Telangana Saturday demanded that the party should go alone. They condemned the TDP's attitude during the alliance talks.

The BJP's Telangana unit president G. Kishan Reddy told reporters that he expect the pact to be finalized by Saturday evening.

He said the BJP's central leadership decided to have an alliance with the TDP in both Telangana and Seemandhra as part of its strategy to make Narendra Modi the prime minister.

Even as Kishan Reddy was addressing the media, several BJP activists were staging a protest at the party office, opposing the alliance with the TDP. They carried placards with slogans like "TDP is weak, BJP is strong".

A section of party leaders opposed the proposal to leave some Lok Sabha and assembly seats to the TDP. They argued that the BJP is strong in these constituencies.

Despite several rounds of talks during last two weeks, the two parties have failed to reach an agreement over seat sharing.

Both the sides were hopeful of finalizing the deal during the talks held in the national capital on Tuesday.

The TDP has termed as "unfair" the BJP's demand for 60 assembly and nine Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.

The regional party is not ready to give 45 assembly and eight Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and 13 assembly and five Lok Sabha seats in Seemandhra.

Telangana has 119 assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats while Seemandhra has 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats.

The elections in Telangana are scheduled on April 30 while Seemandhra will go to polls on May 7.