NEW DELHI, March 8 -- Eager to make its presence felt across the electoral arena in Southern states in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the ruling BJP is in talks with the former NDA ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and working out modalities to finalise an alliance.

According to senior TDP leader and Rajya Sabha MP K Ravindra Kumar, the BJP, the Jana Sena of Pawan Kalyan and his party have decided in principle to work together for upcoming polls.

Speculations in political circles intensified after TDP president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held deliberations with Union Home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda. The TDP leader Ravindra Kumar said that preliminary discussions have taken place for the "purpose of an alliance" for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls, which are to be held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh.

Jana Sena president and actor Pawan Kalyan was also part of the lengthy discussions at Home Minister Shah's residence here on Thursday night.

Sources said the number of seats the BJP will get in such an alliance remains a sticking point. Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly constituencies. Yet another round of discussions to finalise the seat sharing formula may be held among the top leaders of the three parties.

The BJP is understood to be keen to contest more than 20 Assembly and around eight to 10 Lok Sabha seats. The TDP is unwilling to concede more than five-six parliamentary seats and it also wants the BJP to not contest more than 10 Assembly seats, the sources said.

Andhra's ruling YSR Congress Party, headed by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, has also warm and cordial ties with the BJP which may affect TDP's prospects and work to the advantage of YSRCP. The TDP appears to be careful about this kind of situation emerging.

The BJP is keen on expanding the NDA footprint in states and is learnt to be close to sealing a tie-up with Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), its former ally like the TDP.

While Naidu had walked out of the BJP-led NDA in 2018 in protest against the Centre not granting a special status to Andhra Pradesh, BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had quit the alliance in 2009.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.