Jagan in final stages of talks to join NDA: Sources

New Delhi

In a major development that will have far-reaching political ramifications, the Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSRCP has entered the final stages of joining the NDA. Sources in the YSRCP as well as the NDA have shared crucial bits of information on the stitching of this new alliance, which is expected to add another dimension to the political fabric of the country.

While buzz about the alliance has been on since Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister made several quick trips to New Delhi, news about the finalities has been heard in select quarters over the past couple of days. Sources say that talks about YSRCP joining hands with the BJP-led NDA-2 had been going on since the BJP romped home with a brute majority. However, certain hitches, including giving special status to Andhra Pradish as well as supporting the NDA when it came to several bills like the controversial farm bills and the CAA, had created certain hurdles in the process.

Given the fact that the BJP has been successful in forming the government in Karnataka, it was important for it to make its presence felt in the four other states. The party was said to have adopted a ‘wait and watch’ policy, even if it had realised that it was important to have alliance partners as far as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The BJP is also said to be glad about the fact that although AP is an agrarian state, the state’s farmer organisations have relatively stayed away from the ongoing protests against the new farm laws.

Now that the GHMC poll results are out—where the BJP has made a spectacular entry—it is clear that the strained relationship with TRS has only acted as a catalyst in the party forging this alliance with YSRCP. However, it is another matter that YSRCP and TRS have a tacit understanding between them and won’t transgress on each other’s turf. The talk of the new alliance, according to popular perceptions, is being pursued more aggressively by Jagan to pre-empt the revival of or rapprochement between the TDP and BJP. Moreover, it suits the YSRCP to be part of the NDA given the fact that Jagan has a formidable opponent in N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has been proactively involved in attacking the current dispensation. Jagan, it is said, will also use the opportunity to salvage the situation as far as Amaravati is concerned, which has become a thorny issue as he has devised the ‘three capitals’ formula, which the Centre has opposed all along.

Sources say that in the next few days after the issue of the agitating farmers is resolved, Jagan will be in Delhi for a formal event where this new alliance will be announced in the presence of party bigwigs.