Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Thursday, September 14, confirmed the alliance with Telugu Desam Party for the Andhra Pradesh polls 2024. The development took place after Kalyan met TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in prison.

Kalyan who happens to be the NDA partner in the southern state, said he had been dillydallying all this while as to whether Jana Sena and TDP would contest the forthcoming polls together but clarified his stand in the wake of Naidu's arrest.

"Andhra Pradesh can't afford YSRCP. I have made the decision today. Jana Sena and TDP will go together in the next elections," Kalyan told reporters, accompanied by Naidu's son and party general secretary Nara Lokesh and Hindupur MLA and Naidu's brother-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna.

Naidu was arrested in connection with the fraud case involving siphoning off of funds from the Skill Development Corporation, leading to a loss of over Rs 300 crore to the state government.

The Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department had said as many as 13 signatures of Naidu were found in various documents pertaining to the Skill Development Corporation, which was set up by flouting the rules. AP CID chief N Sanjay said owing to the alleged role played by Naidu in the ‘scam’, he was arraigned as accused one (A1) in the case. Initially, he was named as A37.

The skill development case pertains to the setting up of clusters of centres of excellence (CoE) in the southern state with the total estimate of the project valued at Rs 3,300 crore but allegedly ended up causing a loss in excess of Rs 300 crore to the state exchequer.

With inputs from PTI

First Published:Sept 14, 2023 2:13 PM IST