Seat-sharing between Janasena-BSP alliance finalised

Amaravathi: Two days after announcing their alliance, Jana Sena Party (JSP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have announced the seat-sharing between the two parties in Vijayawada. After holding talks with the BSP representative and Rajya Sabha MP, Veer, on Sunday, it was agreed that BSP would be given 21 Assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats. While the Assembly constituencies, where the BSP would be contesting, was not announced, Pawan disclosed that they have given them Tirupati, Chittoor and Bapatla Parliament constituencies.

JSP chief Pawan Kalyan said that the discussion of seat-sharing between CPI and CPI (M) is yet to take place, following which he will decide how many Assembly and Lok Sabha seats his party will contest. The JSP has already released their first list of candidates who will be contesting in 32 Assembly seats and two Parliament seats.

Out of 32 MLA candidates, four notable candidates found a place in the list. Former Congress leader and united Andhra’s former Speaker Nadendla Manohar, who joined the party less than a year ago, has been given the Tenali ticket, while Thota Chandrashekar, a former IAS officer who reportedly owns the 99TV channel, has been given the Guntur West ticket.

Ravela Kishore Babu, a minister who quit the TDP citing caste-bias and discrimination, has been given the Prathipadu Assembly ticket. Dr A Bharat Bhushan, a former Indian Railways officer, has been given the Vemuru Assembly ticket. Ravela and Bharat both hail from Dalit communities. In a setback to JSP, Gedela Srinu Babu, who was given the Visakhapatnam seat, joined the YSRCP on Saturday.

Opposition party YSRCP released its full list of Assembly candidates on Sunday. YSRCP President Jagan Mohan Reddy will contest from Pulivendula constituency. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has also announced its first list of candidates for the Assembly elections, containing 126 names. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu will be seeking re-election from Kuppam constituency in his native Chittoor district. Andhra Pradesh has 175 Assembly seats and 25 Parliament seats. The state would go for polls on April 11.