LS polls: Congress still hopeful of pact with Telangana Rashtra Samithi for seats

Hyderabad: It appears that the Congress in Telangana will most likely tie up with the CPI by offering it a Lok Sabha and six Assembly seats, and have a ‘friendly contest’ with the MIM in one Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats. The party is waiting for word from TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who has repeatedly rebuffed the Congress.

Talking to the media in Delhi, after concluding the two day preliminary assessment on the list submitted by the party’s screening committee, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said, “Our doors are open for an alliance with KCR, but what do we do when he has closed the doors? We are still optimistic on alliances with like minded parties.”

During the exercise, there was unanimity in almost 45 Assembly seats, where the committee put up a single name. This list will be announced as the first list after March 26 by party President Sonia Gandhi. “We are yet finalise names in 20-odd Assembly segments, which we will do in due course,” he said.

For remaining seats, there are two or three contenders, and the final decision will be taken by Mrs Gandhi.

It is understood that the CPI will be offered the Khammam Lok Sabha instead of Nalgonda sought by the party. The Congress will name, as in the past, ‘weak’ candidates in 10 Assembly segments against the MIM.

He said finalisation of candidates for Seemandhra was not a problem. The party will get down to it after the bus yatra concludes.