NEW DELHI: YSR Congress has announced support for BJP in the presidential election, further bolstering the ruling camp's numbers for the key contest and nearly ensuring that a nominee of the ruling party gets to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan in July. Jaganmohan Reddy's Andhra Pradesh-based outfit, which was non-committal till now, was being watched closely along with AIADMK and BJD on which way they would tilt in the President's election.Reddy met PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday and issued a public announcement on backing BJP's candidate. Support from YSR Congress and indication that TRS might follow suit has virtually killed the contest.They have also increased the possibility of more regional players breaking for BJP. The presidential election had always appeared an uphill task for the united opposition but it slowly seems to be becoming an impossible battle given the drift of key regional outfits.YSR Congress's decision to side with BJP implies that the principal poles in Andhra politics will stand on the same side in the presidential polls and vote for the saffron candidate. TDP, which rules Andhra, is a BJP ally, while Jaganmohan is a rival of CM Chandrababu Naidu and nurses the ambition of replacing him.

Source: Times of India May 11, 2017 20:28 UTC