The Congress party-led ‘Maha Kutami’ or grand alliance of four opposition parties in Telangana hit a rock on Wednesday, when one of its partners, M Kodandaram led Telangana Jan samithi (TJS), announced that it would contest on 12 seats in the upcoming assembly elections, against the eight allocated by the Congress out of total 119 seats.
TJS spokesperson Venkat Reddy told media that the party was unhappy with the delay in announcing the candidates by the Congress and so has decided to contest in 12 seats which includes, Dubbak, Medak, Siddipet, Station Ghanpur, Malkajgiri, Amberpet, Warangal (East), Miryalguda, Jangaon, Asifabad, Wardhannapet and Mahbubnagar.
Out of these 12 seats the Congress has already named candidates from Asifabad and Station Ghanpur and is likely to announce a candidate for Miryalguda, while Mahbubnagar was allotted to the Telugu Desam Party as part of the seat-sharing deal.
The TJS leader said his party had been asking for more seats. “We have taken a decision to contest in 12 seats. If it is required, we may contest in three more seats,” Venkat Reddy said.
Another senior TJS leader P L Vishweshwar Rao informed that the names of candidates from these 12 seats would be announced shortly.
“Our party president M Kodandaram is holding talks with Congress leadership and we hope outcome would be in our favour,” he said.
TJS has stated that although the party would remain the part of grand alliance with the sole objective of defeating the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the alliance partners should adopt give-and-take policy during the negotiations.
The CPI, which has been allotted three seats — Bellampalli, Wyra and Husnabad is also disappointed and is seeking two other seats- Kothagudem and Munugode.
Former MLA and senior CPI leader Kunamaneni Sambasiva Rao has alleged Congress of betraying CPI in seat sharing in the Maha Kootami.
“It was a dishonour for the CPI to get only three seats. Our party has a strong presence in at least 40 constituencies,” he said.
Meanwhile, the BJP has finalised its candidates for 96 assembly seats out of total 119 seats.
Elections in the state will be held on December 7.