BJP, TDP have decided to work together for upcoming polls: TDP leader Ravindra Kumar

New Delhi: Senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP K Ravindra Kumar claimed on Friday that the BJP, the Jana Sena and his party have decided in principle to work together for upcoming polls and the modalities are being worked out.

A day after TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu held deliberations with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief J P Nadda, Kumar told PTI that preliminary discussions have taken place for the "purpose of alliance" for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls, which are held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh.

"In principle the BJP, TDP and Jana Sena have decided to work together," he added.

Jana Sena president and actor Pawan Kalyan was also part of the discussions that went on for more than an hour and a half at Shah's residence here on Thursday night.

The TDP was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance but exited in 2018 when Naidu was the state's chief minister.

Sources said the number of seats the BJP will get in such an alliance remains a sticking point. Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly constituencies.

The top leaders of the three parties may hold another round of discussions to sort out the differences and finalise the arrangements, the sources added.

Actor Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party, which has been a member of the NDA, has already joined hands with the TDP and has been urging the BJP to follow suit.

What has complicated matters for the BJP is that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, the president of the YSR Congress, has been unambiguously supportive of the Modi government's agenda in Parliament and shares a good personal rapport with its senior leaders.

The BJP has been working to expand the NDA for some time as it eyes a bigger victory in the Lok Sabha polls, expected in April-May.