After prolonged haggling and dilly-dallying, the much-talked-about electoral alliance between the Congress and TRS seemed to have been finally shut down and the former happy that the latter had closed its door.
This became clear with the AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday declaring that the Congress was very happy that the TRS had closed its doors for an electoral alliance. As a matter of fact, the alliance between the two parties seemed to have been only a mirage as the both of them were reluctant to strike a deal though they had been repeatedly asserting that things were being worked out to forge an alliance. In fact, speculations were rife that AICC president Sonia Gandhi had even advised TPCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah to sort out any differences and strive for an alliance with the pink party.
Consequently, on returning to Hyderabad after talks with the Congress High Command, Laxmaiah told the media that the Congress doors were open for an alliance with the TRS and that the invitation should come from it. However, the TRS leaders like K. Keshav Rao and T. Harish Rao had made it clear that there was no question of forging an alliance with the Congress. This amply indicated that both the parties wanted to go on their own in the ensuing elections. And Digvijay Singh’s statement today confirmed that the much-talked-about TRS-Congress alliance had crashed.
Digvijay Singh also told the media after the Congress Central Election Committee meeting that the party’s candidates for the Lok Sabha from Telangana have been finalized. The committee would meet again in a day or two and also finalize the names for the Assembly seats also. He said the number of seats to be allotted to the CPI in the seat-sharing deal has to be discussed and finalized.
Meanwhile, the Congress High Command seemed to have decided to allot Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat to Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, which is now being represented by TRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao. Jaipal Reddy, who got elected from Chevella Lok Sabha constituency in 2009, had desired to contest from his home district this time and hence preferred Mahbubnagar seat which was accepted by the High Command.
However, this caused heart-burning to senor Congress leader and former MP from the constituency Vittal Rao, who aspired the party ticket this time. He was defeated in the last elections by KCR and when the ticket was now being given to Jaipal Reddy much to his consternation, he began to sulk. Digvijay Singh immediately launched damage control operation and tried to soothe his ruffled feelings by assuring that the party would compensate appropriately considering his services and loyalty. (NSS).
