Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties joined hands and officially announced their electoral alliance and seat-sharing in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

The alliance was announced by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar during a press conference.

After days of discussion, BJP will contest on eight Lok Sabha seats and 47 Vidhan Sabha in Telangana and five Lok Sabha seats and 15 Vidhan Sabha in Seemandhara region, sources have said.

Terming the TDP-BJP alliance as “lucky one,” Naidu later tweeted that TDP had benefited from the alliance in the past as well and agreed with the merger for the welfare of the nation.

Elections to 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana are scheduled for April 30 while 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Seemandhra will go to polls May 7.

While the formal announcements were being made, TDP workers were raised slogans against the alliance outside the residence of party Chief Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad.

“Modi is a development man. Irrespective of religion, region and communities, Modi is being supported. Our goal is Congress free India and corruption free India,” said Naidu, who had supported the earlier NDA government at the Centre but parted ways due to TDP’s objections on the Gujarat riots’ issue.

Ignoring the US viewpoint, India has refused to consider the Devyani Khobragade episode as “closed”, saying there are “residual” issues which need to be addressed.

Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said India has made its expectations clear to the US on the issue and hoped that it will be resolved.

“There are residual issues,” she told when asked whether the Khobragade episode was a closed chapter as was being treated by the US. However, she refused to elaborate further on what steps were needed from the US to satisfy India.

Singh said the US interlocutors were conveyed India’s expectations on the issue and expressed unhappiness over the filing of second indictment against Khobragade on charges of visa fraud. “We would have preferred that it (second indictment) did not happen,” she said.

A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade was arrested in New York on December 12 last and was strip-searched, triggering a row between the two countries with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain category of US diplomats among other steps.

Khobragade was released on a USD 250,000 bond and was later granted full diplomatic immunity following which she flew back to India on January 10. She has since been transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

Though, the first indictment against her was rejected by a US Court, prosecutors last month re-indicted her on visa fraud charges and accused the diplomat of “illegally” underpaying and “exploiting” her domestic maid.

BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had called on the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari as she was “frustrated” with the lectoral scenario and predicted her venture would “boomerang”.

“She is frustrated with the emerging poll scenario. So she called on the Shahi Imam. But madam, these efforts will boomerang on your party. You should instead fight on issues,” Naidu said at a media meet.

Three days after Gandhi met the Shahi Imam and reportedly appealed to him to prevent any split in the minority vote, the Muslim religious leader Friday announced his support to her party.

Attacking the Congress, Naidu claimed it would face its “worst defeat” and sink to the lowest ebb of its political existence, while forecasting over 250 seats for his party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Asked whether the BJP would go for a post-poll tie up with the Trinamool Congress, Naidu said the National Democratic Alliance would not require any outside support to form a government.

“We will get more than 250 seats. We can form a government with our NDA allies. We won’t need the support of any other party, including the Trinamool,” he said.

Taking a pot shot at the Aam Admi Party, Naidu said it was only training its guns on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi while sparing Gandhi.

He said the AAP has already lost all credibility and become irrelevant in national politics.

After Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi’s aide Amit Shah stirred up a fresh controversy with his revenge remark in the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, the Election Commission has initiated an inquiry and asked for the tapes of Shah in which he made the vitriolic “vote for revenge” statement while meeting the Jat community leaders earlier this week.

BJP’s UP campaign-in-charge Shah reportedly said in a recent election meeting in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar that “this election is about voting out the government that protects and gives compensation to those who killed Jats, it is an election for honour and to take revenge for the insult. It is an election to teach a lesson to those who have committed injustice”.

Interestingly, he was accompanied by BJP legislator Suresh Rana, who was an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots in which over 60 people, mostly Muslims, had died, while thousands were rendered homeless.

Former actor Congress leader Raj Babbar slammed Shah and said that his speech reflected the mindset of the party. “It is not a new thing as this is not happening for the first time in the BJP. It reflects the mindset of the party and it is good that all of this is coming out before the elections,” said Babbar.

The BJP on Saturday defended Shah over his remark and said that it saw nothing wrong in what he said, even as the Congress and the AAP had called upon the EC over the “provocative hate speech”. Congress had yesterday moved EC demanding that Shah be arrested and banned from campaigning for his speech in riot affected western UP districts and alleged that Narendra Modi and his aides were attempting to play the “2002 communal game” of Gujarat all over the country.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Shinghvi said that the BJP leader was openly instigating the Jats communities to take revenge and for which he should be booked under law. He termed the speech as a criminal offence.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which also went to the poll panel to seek action against the former Gujarat minister for spreading communal hatred, in a statement said that the EC should immediately register a criminal case against Shah as his inflammatory remarks were aimed at spreading communal hatred.

Defending Shah over his statement, the BJP said that it was not an attempt to polarise the elections and rather dragged in Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi into the controversy over her recent meeting and appeal to the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid.

BJP vice president Uma Bharti on Sunday said that while the issue of Ram temple is a matter of faith for the party, the issue of development and backwardness is a major plank in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Ram Temple is a matter of faith for us. But development and backwardness is a major issue in these elections,” Bharti told reporters at her official residence here before leaving for Jhansi to resume campaigning.

Bharti, who suffered from fever and kidney pain while campaigning in Sagar Lok Sabha seat two days back, returned to Jhansi after taking rest.

To a question on giving party ticket to Alok Sanjar from Bhopal after a lot of dilemma, Bharti said for the first time the party has given ticket to a “right” candidate by keeping aside the “VIP-culture” and congratulated Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for it.

The victory of Sanjar from Bhopal is a foregone conclusion, she claimed.

On the issue of efforts to polarise Hindu votes towards BJP and Muslims towards Congress, “This conspiracy was initiated by the Congress and not BJP. It is being done by the UPA’s dirty-trick department.”

When asked about her health condition, Bharti said, “I informed the party in advance about my health problem and also told them that I won’t be able to contest…But I’ll have to obey the party orders. It is my religion.”

For the last two days Bharti remained under the supervision of her doctors and soon after she fell ill, there was rumour that she does not want to contest poll from Jhansi.

Later her office issued a statement saying that due to health problems she returned to Bhopal for rest and would resume campaigning by evening.

Instead of going back last evening, she returned to Jhansi this morning.

In reply to a question on the possibility of Congress president Sonia Gandhi becoming Prime Minister of the country, Bharti said her party has ensured that she would not be able to reach to the top post.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stepped up the attack on the BJP over delaying the release of its manifesto. The Gandhi scion said, “BJP has not released its manifesto yet, they don’t go to the people, they don’t talk to the people and they only give big speeches.”
While addressing a poll rally in Sirsa, Haryana, the Congress Vice President also said that every state in the country does not need a Gujarat model of development.
Rahul on Saturday had also scoffed at the BJP for delaying the release of its election manifesto accusing the party of indulging in rhetoric. “BJP does not care about the people and is just interested in political rhetoric,” said Rahul.
While addressing a poll rally in Thiruvananthapuram, Rahul went on to say, “Congress spent six months with the people and came out with a manifesto the people asked for. But with just days to go for election, BJP has not yet come out with a manifesto. It is because the BJP doesn’t care for the people.”
His remarks came in the wake of the BJP’s announcement to release its manifesto on April 7, the day polling begins for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, the party may not be able to publicise or broadcast its manifesto on the same day.
The BJP’s manifesto release was reportedly delayed due to several last minute changes being asked for by team Narendra Modi.
However, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi who is the Chairman of the party’s manifesto drafting committee denied any rift within the party over the matter. “Last minute suggestions are coming from different leaders. We are incorporating those before releasing the manifesto,” the senior BJP leader said.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday expelled its founding member Ashwini Upadhyay over his repeated involvement in the anti-party activities. He also failed to respond to the show cause notice served to him.
Meanwhile, Upadhyay has denied report of his suspension. “I have not been given a notice; nobody from the party has called me. I have not been expelled. This is a lie,” he said.
Upadhyay had turned rebel after being denied ticket for the Lok Sabha polls. Earlier, he had protested outside AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s residence alleging lack of transparency in ticket distribution in the party. He had also called Kejriwal ‘a liar’.
Upadhyay was a member of the party’s screening team for the Delhi Assembly polls.

Dismissing any “Modi wave” in the country, AAP candidate from Bangalore Central constituency and former Infosys director V Balakrishnan labelled both Congress and BJP as “corrupt” and said they have no intention to change the style of governance.
Mr. Balakrishnan said there was an “anti-Congress wave” which can be filled in by any party but no Modi wave.
“I don’t think there is a Modi wave. It is creation of vested interest. The MPs are talking about Modi because they do not have anything to talk about their performance,” he said.
Asked about NDA forming the government, he said AAP will sit in the opposition and not join hands with either BJP or Congress. “Both the parties are same. There is no point in joining with any of them. We will sit in the opposition.”
Mr Balakrishnan said he did not join any other traditional party like his friend and former Infoscion Nandan Nilekani, contesting on Congress ticket from Bangalore South, as both BJP and Congress are two faces of the same coin. Both were corrupt having no intention to give clean governance.
“Both BJP and Congress are not different from each other in anyway. Both are corrupt. Both don’t have intentions to change the (style of) governance. Both are faces of the same coin. So, I think if not for AAP I would not have joined politics. This is one party which talks about honest, clean governance. AAP’s idea attracted me,” he said.
Mr Balakrishnan said, “Parochial politics including caste was true in the past. I don’t think this is happening in this election … This time you will see a big change in Bangalore electorate. The undercurrent is very strong for AAP. It is across spectrum.”
When told that honesty cannot be the only criterion for winning an election as people have witnessed the defeat of stalwarts like Jayaprakash Narayan, Balakrishnan said Delhi results were the turning point because money, muscle and caste power did not work for other parties to win the elections.
“For the first time, all these three factors did not work and people voted for AAP because they really felt it will give clean, honest governance. I think that kind of a change is happening all across India. Even in my constituency when I go people are looking for change,” he said.
Asked why people should vote for him and AAP as there has been a dent in the party’s image after they gave up governance in Delhi, Balakrishnan said the party gave up power because power without ability to change has no meaning.
“I don’t think there is a dent… power without ability to change has no meaning and that is why they gave up power.”
Asked how AAP would face the challenge of instilling confidence in the aftermath of Delhi fiasco, he said people in his constituency talk on local issues, but there are a few who ask him about the Delhi experience. He tries to convince them of the contextual reference of Arvind Kejriwal quitting as Chief Minister.
“When you go to the constituency the issues are more local issues. So, very few people ask what happened in Delhi and of course we answer that by giving the context in which they gave up governance,” he said.
AAP probably would have done a lot if it had enjoyed full majority in the Delhi Assembly, Balakrishnan said. “Once you understand the context, action is very easy to understand.”
Mr Balakrishnan said AAP had done the right thing in giving up power.
Asked why the people should vote for him, Balakrishnan said people should send honest people to Parliament because this will be in their interest. He also said the people should vote for him because he does not have any legacy which limits an individual’s ability to change.
“Look at Congress and BJP. Each one is blaming the other. BJP talks about good governance – what happened in Karnataka in five years? We had three Chief Ministers. There was a mining scam and denotification scam. So, governance is not somebody’s property. Governance requires good honest leaders,” he said.