Lakshmi Parvati, Bjp Wrap Up Seat-Sharing Arrangement
The Andhra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday reached a seat-sharing agreement with Lakshmi Parvathis NTR-TDP.
The BJP will leave 10 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the NTR-TDP.
Even as state BJP president Bandaru Dattatreya left for New Delhi to inform the party national leadership of the discussions some senior party leaders were hesitant on accepting the deal.
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They claimed that Dattatreya had already decided on the seat-sharing arrangement before speaking to senior BJP leaders.
BJP vice-president Bangaru Laxman, general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu and former president of the partys Andhra Pradesh unit V Rama Rao strongly objected to this.
They told party president L K Advani that the alliance could not materialise as some seats, on which the BJP had a stake, were given to NTR-TDP.
Under a new proposal sent to Lakshmi Parvathi, the BJP has said it would give more than eight seats to her. The alliance is unlikely as it would go against her, said a leader.
Meanwhile, the manifesto of the NTR-TDP was released in Srikakulam on Tuesday by party president Lakshmi Parvathi.
Drawn on the lines of the tasks set by late N T Rama Rao for his still-born Bharat Desam, the NTR-TDP manifesto lays emphasis on the emancipation of women. It promises 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament, opening of at least two womens universities in each state, equal rights for women in property and free education to women upto graduate level.
It also promises legislative measures to ensure the full five-year tenure for the Lok Sabha, revocation of privatisation of state enterprises, subsidised supply of power to the farm sector and other populist measures.