Congress to contest state and LS elections alone in Andhra Pradesh: Raghuveera Reddy

Ending speculations of any alliance in Andhra Pradesh, Congress Party announced that it will contest all 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state on its own in the upcoming elections in the state.

"There will be no alliance with any party for the forthcoming elections and Congress will contest on all 175 assembly constituencies and 25 Lok Sabha seats alone in Andhra Pradesh," Pradesh Congress Committee president Raghuveera Reddy told reporters on Wednesday. Both the state assembly and Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in the state this year.

The Congress national leadership said the decision to go solo was taken based on feedback from the party and the people of the state people. "The people of Andhra believe that the promises made under the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014 will be fulfilled only after Rahul Gandhi becomes the prime minister" Reddy said.

The announcement follows efforts by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to build a national front of regional parties headed by the Congress against the BJP-led NDA for the 2019 general elections.

On the speculated tie-up between Congress and TDP, Telangana caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, earlier said that the Congress should be ashamed of entering into an alliance with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) along with other regional parties, ahead of the assembly elections.

"Congress party had filed 196 cases on the Kaleshwaram project which is useful for the public. The Congress party should be ashamed of themselves for entering an alliance with the TDP, which is not a good sign for the state," he said.