India, March 8 -- Late night meetings are part and parcel of the election season. On Thursday evening, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership began conversations with two regional parties that went on for long to firm up a possible alliance.

Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who heads the Telugu Desam Party, and actor-turned politician Pawan Kalyan, who heads the Jana Sena, met Union home minister Amit Shah for talks on pre-poll tie-ups.

The TDP, which walked out of the BJP-led NDA in 2018 over the issue of granting special status to Andhra Pradesh, has been sending feelers to be reincluded in the coalition. Kalyan too has played a role in helping Naidu mend fences with the BJP.

With the BJP securing allian...