In Late Night Meeting With Amit Shah, Chandrababu Naidu Agrees To Join NDA, Contest Polls Together

In a major development that could shape political alliances in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party has decided to join the NDA, Times Now has learnt. The decision was taken during a late-night meeting between Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Home Minister Amit Shah at the latter's residence. A formal announcement on the alliance will be made after Naidu meets actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan with whom he has joined hands for the elections.

During the meeting - which went on from 11.30 pm and 1 am - the two leaders discussed seat-sharing for both the state polls and the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Times Now has learnt.

"Stress was given on forming a three party alliance for both assembly and Loksabha. Amit Shah stressed on crossing 380 seats for Lok Sabha. He told Naidu to join NDA since TDP ideologically supports BJP on major issues and since there are no such major differences between the two parties. Amit Shah asked Naidu to join alliance to strengthen the PM. During the meeting Amit Shah stressed more on Lok Sabha than assembly," sources in TDP told Times Now.

The BJP wants to contest six seats for the Lok Sabha elections. Sources added that the party is eyeing seats that have been traditionally voting for the TDP.

During the meeting, Naidu told Amit Shah that it wanted to accommodate seats for Jana Sena party of actor Pawan Kalyan. The party, Naidu told Shah, will be given 2 Lok Sabha seats and 30 seats for the assembly elections.

The BJP has expressed interest to contest in 10 seats for the assembly elections, sources added.

After the discussions, Naidu left Shah's residence at 1 am. He took the 9 am flight to Vijaywada.

Naidu is expected to meet Pawan Kalyan and other senior party leaders on the discussions with Shah.