Party chief Y.S.R. Jagan Mohan Reddy meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence.

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday said his party would offer support to any candidate that the BJP fields in the coming presidential election.

Mr. Reddy told this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with him that lasted for over half an hour at the latter’s official residence here.

“We will support any candidate the BJP fields as we have very less differences in opinion. Except for differences on the land acquisition bill and special status for Andhra Pradesh, we share similar opinions on various issues, which we think are pro-people,” he said.

“Also, the BJP has enough support for its candidate to win. Opposing their candidate and fielding another will not make sense,” he said.

Interestingly, Mr. Reddy is the leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly where the ruling TDP is a partner of the BJP-led NDA alliance, which is in power at the Centre.

The presidential election is scheduled in July and Opposition unity for contesting it may well be a precursor to an anti-NDA front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury recently met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to explore the possibility of fielding a joint candidate for the presidential poll, even as RJD chief Lalu Prasad talked about cobbling together a Bihar-style ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance).

During Wednesday’s meeting, Mr. Jagan raised several issues with the Prime Minister and also demanded disqualification of four MLAs from his party who switched over to the Telugu Desam Party and made Ministers in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.

Mr. Reddy also sought justice for those affected in the Agri Gold Estates and Farms scam, better support price for chilli farmers of the State and granting of special status to the State.

“We also gave a booklet, ‘Emperor of Corruption’, brought out by the YSRCP, to the Prime Minister. The booklet talks about corruption by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu,” he said.