AP NDA seat-sharing final

Seat sharing has been finalised among the Andhra Pradesh NDA allies – Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) late on Monday night.
According to the agreement, the distribution of seats is as follows: TDP secures 17 parliamentary and 144 Assembly seats, BJP receives 6 Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats, while JSP will contest in 2 Lok Sabha seats and 21 Assembly seats. This arrangement comes in light of the total of 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.
In a joint statement released by TDP, BJP, and JSP, it was announced that a meeting was held with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat, BJP national vice president Baijayant Panda, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan. The purpose of the meeting was to ensure a fair distribution of seats that align with the interests and aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh. The names of the constituencies each party will contest in will be disclosed subsequently.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that JSP will field candidates in 21 Assembly seats, including Razole, Rajanagaram, Tenali, Nellimarla, Anakapalli, Kakinada Rural, Nidadavole, Pithapuram, Bhimavaram, Narsapuram, TadepalliGudem, Pendurthi, Vizag South, Yelamanchili, Avanigadda, Amalapuram, Vijayawada West, Darsi, Tirupati, Anantapur Urban, and Polavaram. Six candidates have already been named by Pawan Kalyan for these seats. Additionally, Pawan Kalyan himself will contest from Kakinada for Lok Sabha, and Bala Showry, who recently joined JSP from YSRCP, will contest from Machilipatnam. The official announcement of candidate names is expected within the next couple of days.
Following the completion of the seat-sharing process, there have been concerns raised by aspirants from all three parties across the State. Particularly, the JSP expressed dismay as their initial allotment of 24 Assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats was reduced to 21 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats. Furthermore, there were reports of dissatisfaction among senior BJP leaders who felt sidelined in the tentative candidate selections for both Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies.
The 2024 polls will be the first time the three parties are contesting the polls together. Back in 2014, when TDP and BJP fought the polls together, Jana Sena was their outside ally.
The TDP and Jana Sena have announced the names of 100 candidates already, and Naidu said the respective parties will name other candidates soon.
Meanwhile, TDP sources said that the State’s opposition party have invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend an election meeting which could take place between March 17 and 20.
“We have invited Modi for the meeting, mostly he will come for the meeting, the date is not yet finalised. We proposed March 17 but a day here and there, mostly Modi will be there. Between March 17 and 20, it will happen. That will be a good way to kick off the campaign. Modi, Naidu, Pawan, all together,” the sources added.
Another TDP source emphasised that if Modi participates in this meeting, it could be the first time in a decade that Modi, Naidu and Kalyan would be sharing the stage.