Telangana Grand Alliance struggles with seat sharing

With voting day less than six weeks away in Telangana, the Congress-led Maha Kootami (grand alliance) is still struggling to arrive at an amicable seat-sharing arrangement, enabling the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to gain a headstart in campaign.

One-time rivals Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have together with the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS ) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) formed the alliance ahead of the December 7 assembly elections to fight the TRS led by chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR.

Even as the partners struggle for a consensus on seat-sharing, the TRS has already released its list of candidates for 112 out of the 119 assembly seats. KCR has launched a whirlwind campaign, and covered five out of Telangana’s 31 districts nearly a month-and-a-half before the election notification on October 7.

The TJS, led by M. Kodandaram,, an ideologue of Telangana movement and an ally of KCR in the statehood movement that led to the June 2014 creation of the state out of Andhra Pradesh, is seeking 35-40 seats, while the TDP wants 20-25 seats and even the CPI has laid claim to 12. All the smaller parties are demanding that the Congress make “sacrifices’”to ensure that the alliance prevails. Congress, according to party members who requested anonymity, wants its alliance partners to be “realistic;” it is ready to concede 3-7 seats to the TJS, four to the CPI and 12 to the TDP. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttamkumar Reddy, told journalists on Tuesday that he is confident the Maha Kootami will“will shortly overcome all the minor hiccups in seat-sharing.”

TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. speaking at a meeting with his Telangana party leaders in Hyderabad on Monday, asked them to be pragmatic in staking a claim to seats, keeping in mind the party’s winning prospects, lest it benefit the TRS. Once the predominant regional party in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the TDP, which was formed on an anti-Congress plank in the 1980s, is facing an existential crisis in Telangana, forcing it to join hands with the Congress.

TDP Telangana unit president L. Ramana said, “We are ready for give and take. We are fully flexible so as to pursue our common election objective of defeating the TRS.” Kodandaram expressed the hope that the Congress will ensure his party gets a fair deal in seat-sharing. Sravan Dasoji, TPCC spokesperson, justified the delay in seat sharing within the grand alliance. “After all, it’s a democratic platform which believes in mutual consensus and respect for sentiments of others, unlike the TRS,” he said.

TRS spokesperson P Sudhakar Reddy said the Grand Alliance lacked a common agenda, as was being reflected in the wrangling over sharing of seats.

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