Showing up amid speculation that Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections may be held in March, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu declared today that the TDP was ready to face simultaneous or separate elections for the Assembly and the Lok Sabha.The Chief Minister, who arrived here for the first time after surviving the Naxal attack in Tirupati two months ago, drove straight to Parliament House for a 30-minute meeting with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee.After the meeting, he said he was ready for both separate and simultaneous elections. ‘‘It is for the PM and the NDA partners to decide whether to hold Lok Sabha elections before March 17. My party is for holding Assembly elections latest by March 17 as school examinations are slated to be held after that date,’’ Naidu said.He disclosed he had sought Rs 966.12 crore assistance besides 1.5 million tonnes of rice for drought relief. He had lunch with BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu at the latter’s residence. There he was joined by Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan and others. The BJP president said: ‘‘Neither Lok Sabha elections nor seat-sharing for the Assembly polls was discussed at the meeting.” In the afternoon, the AP CM met the task force on micro-irrigation to finalise the draft report of recommendations to the Centre to promote drip irrigation. The report, he said, would be submitted in January. Naidu is the chairman of the task force.
