Cong led grand alliance in Telangana stuck on seat sharing: CPI Gen Sec Sudhakar Reddy

The proposed Congress led grand alliance in Telangana to counter the ruling TRS in the upcoming assembly election in the state has been stuck around issues relating to seat sharing, CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy has said.

Congress, TDP (Telugu Desam Party) and CPI (Communist Party of India) announced the formation of a pre poll grand alliance with Congress last month.

Later, the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) led by M Kodandram and other smaller parties expressed their interest in joining forces with the alliance which is yet to be formalised.

India's newest state, having 119 seats, will go to polls on December 7 this year.

"Talks on seat sharing issue are still on. We are yet to have a consensus on seat sharing. I think the Congress wants to contest in 75 per cent or more of the total seats. If the alliance materialises then it will give a tough fight to TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi)", Reddy told PTI.

Reddy said that CPI wants to contest in 12 constituencies.

"In nine constituencies, we have good chance of winning. Hence we can't compromise on these nine constituencies", said Reddy.

He cautioned that delay in solving seat sharing issues could affect the winning prospects of alliance candidates.

"We are already late in announcing the list of our candidates. I hope the seat sharing issues will be solved soon", Reddy said.

The CPI general secretary said talks between partners of the proposed grand alliance were also held on the common minimum Programme (CMP).

He added the grand alliance's CMP would include issues such as completion of the state's irrigation projects, filling of two lakh job vacancies in different government departments, compensation to family members of farmers who had committed suicide and distribution of land among landless farmers.

Blaming the K Chandrasekhar Rao led state government for lack of proper development in Telangana, particularly in agriculture and its allied sectors, the veteran CPI leader alleged that the TRS government was "dictatorial, repressive and corrupt."