TDP back in NDA fold

• BJP to get 5 LS, 15 Assembly seats in Seemandhra
• In Telangana, it will be given 47 MLA, 8 MP seats
• Places of contest to be decided upon soon
• Chandrababu claims ‘win-win’ for both parties

Hyderabad: Pulling curtains down on the fortnight-long suspense on pre-poll alliance, the BJP on Sunday, which happened to be its formation day, announced that the TDP had returned to the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) fold and that both the parties would jointly contest the elections in Seemandhra and Telangana.Flanked by BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, NDA co-convenor and Shriomani Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral, BJP treasurer Piyush Goyal, Bandaru Dattatreya and Y Ramakrishnudu, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said that the BJP has been given 5 LS and 15 Assembly constituencies in Seemandhra and in Telangana it would get 8 LS and 47 Assembly seats.

Despite outbreak of dissidence in both parties, the alliance is widely projected to be necessary for both BJP and TDP to emerge as a potent force in the Seemandhra region in the general election. TDP had parted ways with NDA after it lost the elections in 2004 general election. "Narendra Modi will lead the NDA to over 300 seats in the Lok Sabha elections," Naidu told reporters after announcing the alliance. Naidu said that the seat adjustment between the two parties had been done in a ‘win-win’ situation. He appealed to his party leaders and workers to understand the situation and cooperate with the party in the election.

“Sometimes in the interests of the state and the nation, certain sacrifices become necessary, but the party will give due recognition to all those who have been its torch-bearers and will accommodate them in legislative council and other nominated posts,” he assured. The TDP chief said a tentative list of the allotted Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies would be announced in a day or two. He said there were certain objections raised by some of his party leaders over some seats. Consultations were on and the issue would soon be resolved, he said.

He felt that the coalition would help solve the problems including power and water crisis in Telangana and establishment of new capital city in Seemandhra. He said that at the end of the day both the parties would be able to see that the nation and the two states would have corruption-free governance that would propel India forward, fast enough to make up for the 10-year slag. He criticised that during the last decade under the United Progressive Alliance rule, the country suffered badly. “Our aim is to provide a stable and efficient government and honest administration.

I am confident that the NDA will end up with 300-plus LS seats,” he added. Javdekar and Goyal hailed the alliance as one that would usher in a ‘corruption-free, Congress-free India’ and put the great nation on the international map.