BJP begins discussions with TDP and Akalis about a potential alliance

NEW DELHI: The BJP is reaching out to additional regional parties for the Lok Sabha elections. It has initiated discussions with the TDP and Akali Dal, while it is still in talks with Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal. These talks may result in another defection from the already-strained INDIA bloc.

After quitting the NDA in 2019, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu arrived in Delhi on Wednesday for what sources described as “exploratory” discussions. Around midnight, he went to the house of house Minister Amit Shah with BJP leader JP Nadda in tow. BJP has not shown much affection for TDP so far due to dissatisfaction with Naidu and unwavering backing from AP Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy. Discussions with Naidu reveal a reevaluation, driven by the need to have supporters in weaker regions and the realization that Reddy’s influence would have been diminished by the incumbent.
Nitish talks with PM Shah and vows never to quit the NDA
According to insiders, the BJP is in contact with Akali Dal, which broke away from the NDA to oppose the agriculture legislation, in order to establish a new alliance. Sukhbir Badal, the leader of Akali, is said to have had initial discussions on an alliance in Punjab, where both parties have had difficulty surviving, with a top BJP official.
Akalis are a “natural ally” of the BJP, and many in the party have argued that the party should stick with them even after their unpopularity made the alliance expensive for the party. These individuals will support the move.
Additionally, sources verified that negotiations with Jayant Chaudhary were going smoothly, with the late Chaudhary Charan Singh, the heir of the Jat patriarch, prepared to accept seats less than seven that the Samajwadi Party gave him on behalf of INDIA. According to sources, the reason for the delay in the official announcement was not so much the number of seats RLD want to run for as it was the particular seats it has already claimed.
On the day when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Modi met for the first time since the president of JD(U) abandoned the INDIA alliance and joined the NDA last month and then said he would never quit it again, there were a flurry of discussions.Even as CM with the BJP’s backing, Kumar avoided Delhi and met with BJP leader J P Nadda and home minister Amit Shah, with whom he is said to have addressed a variety of Bihar-related political and governance matters.
Speaking briefly to media, Kumar recounted his membership in the BJP from 1995 till severing his links in 2013. He said that although he may have left the party twice, he would never do so again. “Not right now. We’re staying here (in the NDA),” he said.
The discussions took place five days before the assembly’s February 12 trust vote on Kumar’s government.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and JD(U) each fought 17 seats in Bihar, while the now-split Lok Janshakti Party ran six seats. Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha and former chief minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi are currently members of the NDA.