Andhra’s anti-Cong alliance a non-starter

The Mahakutami (Grand Alliance) of four anti-Congress parties in Andhra Pradesh could not take off on Wednesday, as scheduled, because of disagreements over seat-sharing, reports Ashok Das.

The Mahakutami (Grand Alliance) of four anti-Congress parties in Andhra Pradesh could not take off on Wednesday, as scheduled, because of disagreements over seat-sharing.

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The alliance comprises the Telugu Desam Party, the CPI, the CPI(M) and the Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS).

TRS boss K. Chandrasekhar Rao wanted to finalise the alliance at Telangana Bhavan here on Wednesday. But the leaders of the three other parties, TDP’s N. Chandrababu Naidu, CPI’s K. Narayana and CPI(M)’s B.V. Raghavulu, did not turn up.

The hitch, reportedly, is the TRS demand for 50 assembly and 10 Lok Sabha seats against 40 assembly and seven Lok Sabha seats offered by the TDP.

Political observers, however, said the TRS boss was using the grand alliance threat to force a section of Telangana-based Congressmen to plead with the high command to make an announcement on the statehood issue.