With infighting within the Congress and between the allies picking up, the announcement of candidates by the Telangana Congress further got delayed and the list is likely to come out only on November 12.
The AICC in-charge for Telangana, R. C. Khuntia defended the delay and said there were suggestions that the entire party list be announced in one go. Since the finalisation of candidates in about 20 seats was yet to be done, the list is postponed and will likely to be released on Monday.
Pressure from allies?
Serious differences cropped up among senior Congress leaders with the news leaking that some senior leaders may be denied seats citing pressure from the allies and also from groups within the party.
Reports that former PCC chief, Ponnala Lakshmaiah may lose his seat in Jangaon created a buzz and there was a strong reaction from the Backward Classes groups on this.
The Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) was reportedly offered the Jangaon seat. Mr. Lakshmaiah himself expressed displeasure over such leakages to the media and said it would only harm the party and these efforts to sabotage the party were on from insiders itself when there was a favourable atmosphere for the party in Telangana.
However, Mr Khuntia denied the news and said they were just rumours and the party was not willing to concede Jangaon and Ramagundam to TJS. “Talks are still on and party cadre should not believe such news,” he told The Hindu.
Cong -TJS talks
Meanwhile, the TPCC chief, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and TJS chief, M. Kodandaram held talks on the contentious issue of the seats to be shared as well as constituencies. However, nothing concrete has come out of the talks.
On the other hand the Communist Party of India (CPI), a key ally of the grand alliance has made it clear that it would go ahead and announce candidates for the five seats it was seeking. The Congress is willing to give just three seats but the CPI feels it is being humiliated and they would not compromise on the constituencies they were seeking.