The principal opposition party in Telangana has offered 16 Assembly seats to the Telugu Desam Party and 13 seats to smaller regional parties.
The Congress has decided to architect a grand alliance in Telangana in a bid to oust Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao from power. It has offered 16 Assembly seats to the Telugu Desam Party which rules neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, while also setting aside 13 seats to few smaller parties in the 119-seat Assembly.
After KCR announced his first list of 105 candidates minutes after dissolving the Assembly, the Opposition camp hastened the process of forging alliances and alloting tickets to aspirants. As elections are likely to be held simultaneously with the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram polls in December, or even before that, Telangana Opposition parties are left with not much time to gear up.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon, mainly to attend his recently dead brother-in-law and former Rajya Sabha member N. Harikrishna’s 10th day funeral ceremonies in the city. He addressed the party’s executive committee meeting at NTR Bhavan in the evening.
CM Naidu mentioned the changing political situation in the country as well as that of Telangana after KCR’s decision to dissolve the Assembly and go for early elections.
He said that this move appeared to be part of a bigger conspiracy hatched by the BJP. The AP CM suggested that there was a need to defeat the TRS in Telangana which is indirectly in league with BJP.
Naidu asked his party leaders to leave the issue of seat sharing with the Congress as talks are yet to begin officially.
But he hinted that he was open about joining hands with the Congress in Telangana to teach a lesson to KCR who inched closer to the BJP. Naidu also told his party leaders that the TDP would emerge stronger in the elections and no one can form a government without it.
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy earlier in the day called up Naidu and invited him for talks to finalise seat sharing. According to sources, TDP’s Telangana unit leaders had requested for 20 seats where they have up to 35% vote share, but the Congress is not ready to concede more than 16.
Congress is also in talks with smaller regional parties like Telangana Jana Samithi led by Prof Kodandaram which might get six seats, CPI which is asking for three seats, and the BSP which wants two seats, Telangana Inti Party and Yuva Telangana Party, which sought one seat each.
AICC in charge general secretary R.C. Khuntia, who is camping in Hyderabad, is overseeing the negotiations.