TDP seeks five cabinet berths at Centre, two for its ally Jana Sena

Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) parliamentary party meeting on Thursday chaired by party president N Chandrababu Naidu has decided to request the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to allocate five cabinet berths to the party leaders and two for its ally Jana Sena at the Centre, party leaders said on Thursday. 

Naidu-led TDP in the recently concluded general election won 16 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats, the Jana Sena two, and the BJP won three as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). 

A senior TDP leader said that the party would also seek special status for Andhra Pradesh as it has lost its biggest revenue source –  Hyderabad – due to bifurcation of the state in 2014. 

“Our request for ministerial posts is based on the special package that was promised to Andhra Pradesh at the time of reorganisation. The requirement of special status is basically the Central grant for key development projects in the state,” one of the TDP MPs present at the meeting said. 

In the meeting that took place at Naidu’s residence in Undavalli, on the outskirts of Vijayawada, the party also pledged to support the NDA throughout the term, irrespective of who the BJP chooses as its legislative party leader. 

Topping the list of priorities is the grant for backward seven districts in Andhra Pradesh – three from Uttara Andhra and four from the Rayalaseema region. Kalama Srinivasulu, one of the TDP leaders said, “As part of the Special Development Projects (SDP) Fund, we have decided to request the Centre for a 50-50 share in the metro project for Vijayawada, industry and power subsidies for five years, continuance of the Sagarmala project, and development of state and national highways.” 

According to the leader, the SDP funds were discontinued after the first two years of the state’s formation. Andhra Pradesh has also not received grants under the Jal Jeevan project under which all households across the country have piped drinking water, the minister said, emphasising that the request for the water resources ministry was to ensure all households in Andhra are covered under this scheme. 

Vemulapati Ajaya Kumar, the national spokesperson of the Jana Sena Party, said, “We are supporting Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi’s candidature for PM given that it was Pawan Kalyan who stitched together the alliance in Andhra Pradesh. The election was fought to support the NDA and we commit to continue with the government for the whole term.” However, we have made it clear that we want to be part of the governance and the government, Ajaya Kumar said. 

With respect to the Andhra Pradesh government formation, the TDP is scheduled to hold the Telugu Desam Legislative Party meeting on June 11. Ministerial berths for Jana Sena and BJP candidates will be decided during the meeting, a senior Andhra TDP leader said.