VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Prime Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy departed for New Delhi on Monday evening, sparking further speculation about the possibility of YSRC joining the BJP-led NDA government in the Center. The prime minister is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
For some time, speculation has been rife in YSRC circles that Jagan had been offered a cabinet seat and two prime minister spots. However, it is believed that Jagan met his demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh to join the NDA. The YSRC supreme had anchored his entire election campaign for the assembly in 2019 on this single demand.
Both Jagan and Telangana’s Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will attend the Apex Council meeting on river disputes in Delhi on Tuesday to resolve their fight to share Krishna’s waters. KCR, however, has decided to attend via video conference from Hyderabad. For Jagan, on the other hand, this is his second visit to the national capital in fifteen days. He was in Delhi on 23-24 September, during which he held two rounds of meetings with the Union Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah.
BJP, sources said, wants YSRC to join the NDA as the departures of Shiv Sena earlier this year and Shiromani Akali Dal last month reduced the NDA’s strength in Rajya Sabha to 113. UPA’s strength remains at 60, while other parties have 70 members.
The sources added that with 28 MPs, 22 in Lok Sabha and six in Rajya Sabha, YSRC could make life easier for the BJP in Parliament. The party had voted in favor of the agricultural bills in the session that had just concluded.
Jagan’s meeting with Shah in September was apparently about Andhra Pradesh, obtaining financial support from the Center and fulfilling all promises made during the 2014 unified fork of Andhra Pradesh. But it was during this meeting that Shah is believed to have submitted a formal request to Jagan to join the group. NDA.
On Video: Amid Rumor YSRC Joins NDA, Jaganmohan Reddy To Meet Narendra Modi
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