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BJP ties up with JD (united) in Karnataka, TDP in AP

In a swift political move, the Bharatiya Janata Party today forged two electoral partnerships - one with the Janata Dal (united) in Karnataka and the other with the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP, by joining hands with the JD (united) in Karnataka, has signalled its willingness to accommodate the party in the National Democratic Alliance at the national level.

The decision to tie up with the Janata Dal (united) in Karnataka was taken at an hour-long meeting between the BJP president, Kushabhau Thakre and the Lok Shakti chief, Ram Krishna Hegde. Lok Shakti is a constituent of the JD (united)

After the meeting, Thakre told waiting reporters the party had decided to jointly fight both Parliament and assembly elections in Karnataka with JD (united) in order to defeat the Congress.

For nearly a month, the Karnataka unit of the BJP had been fighting tooth and nail against joining hands with the JD (united) as, according to them, it would prove counter-productive for the BJP.

With today's agreement, decks have now beeen cleared for the August 14 meeting of the central election committee of the BJP, where a list of candidates for the Lok Sabha and Karnataka Assembly polls will be finalised.

Asked about the JD's (united) imminent entry into the National Democratic Alliance, Thakre said: ''The NDA is not under my control. It will be decided by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is its chairman.''

Earlier, ignoring the Andhra Pradesh BJP unit's insistence on not having any poll tie-ups, the party high command decided to fight the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh in cooperation with the TDP.

The high command took the strategic decision, after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee last night and proposed to have an alliance with the party in order to defeat the Congress.

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