The much-touted seat sharing talks between the Congress and other parties like Telugu Desam Party, Communist Party of India and Telangana Jana Samiti may not be a smooth affair if the demand put forward by the TJS in any indication.
Preliminary discussions held so far between the senior leaders of these parties have been a smooth affair barring the tough talk by the TJS leadership, senior functionaries of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) said.
It is understood that by and large the TDP is said to have zeroed in on 15 seats, which it feels there is good chance of victory. The CPI too has identified five seats and plans to stake its claims on that. But, the issue that is causing some consternation is the demand for allocation of 35 seats, reportedly made by the TJS leadership during the initial talks.
A TPCC source said apart from putting forth the demand for 35 seats the TJS leaders also wanted the manifesto to be common with predominantly referring to the sacrifices made by youth during the separate statehood movement. While TJS president Prof. Kodandaram was not present at the deliberations, the TPCC leadership said those representing the party had insisted that it was for the Congress to take a call on the alliance.
They went to the extent of stating that TJS would field candidates in 100 constituencies, if the alliance talks fail. The TJS leadership on its part said they were assessing their strength in the constituencies. “We will complete the process of identifying the constituencies in the next three-four days,” TJS sources stated.
It is understood that TDP and CPI are very clear on the number of seats they want. The TDP, TPCC sources said, was asking for Medchal, Uppal, Jubilee Hills, Serilingampally, Qutubullapur, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad Cantonment seats in the Twin Cities and surrounding districts. The party was also seeking Devarakadra and Makthal (Mahabubnagar district), Aswaraopet and Sathupally (Khammam), Armoor and Nizamabad Rural (Nizamabad), Huzurabad and Husnabad (Karimnagar), Korutla (Jagtial), Kodad and Suryapet (Suryapet) and Parkal and Warangal East.
On the other hand, the CPI is said to be keen on staking its claim on Kothagudem, Wyra, Husnabad, Devarakonda and Bellampally seats.
However, the Congress leadership is of the opinion that it could concede a maximum of 30 seats as part of the alliance as there is heavy demand for Congress tickets seen from the fact that about 1,100 aspirants for Assembly tickets had submitted their bio-data. Party sources said senior leaders would be accommodated in about 40 constituencies without any hassle.(eom)