Talks over TDP, BJP poll pact cut no ice
HYDERABAD: Talks between the TDP and the BJP over seat-sharing in Telangana and Seemandhra didn't seem to make much headway on Tuesday too. But the war of words between the two sides did escalate.
The BJP, in fact, sent mixed signals. If the party's senior leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said talks with the TDP were still on and consensus was yet to be achieved, the party's Telangana leaders sounded belligerent.
Responding to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu's observation that the BJP's demand for 60 Assembly seats in Telangana was 'unreasonable', the saffron party's Telangana unit president G Kishan Reddy said, 'TDP's strength in Telangana is well known. Its district presidents and MLAs are quitting. There is no support or respect for it in Telangana. On the other hand, we won two of the three bypolls in the region.'
Reddy wondered how could Naidu find BJP's demands unreasonable at a time when the party did not even seek an alliance. 'We have conveyed our opinion to our party leadership. They will take a decision,' he said.
Jaitley will be arriving in Hyderabad Wednesday to find common ground with the TDP and explore the possibility of striking an alliance with Naidu. The BJP has been demanding 60 Assembly and eight Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and five Lok Sabha and 25 Assembly seats in Seemandhra.
Naidu had said Monday evening that 'seat-sharing exercise should be pragmatic' and warned the BJP that if it 'creates problems, it would be difficult for us.'
Talks may be over in a day or two: BJP
BJP's national secretary and incharge of party affairs in the State P Muralidhara Rao told that seat-sharing talks with the TDP could be completed in a day or two.
News Posted: 26 March, 2014
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