Seat allotment in alliance turns sour

Hyderabad: Seat adjustment discussions have turned acrimonious in the grand alliance, putting a question mark on its survival. The Congress is not ready to give too many seats to its partners. The Congress had earlier thought of contesting in 90 constituencies and leaving 29 to the allies, the Telugu Desam (TD), the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS), CPI and the Telangana Inti Party (TIP). The TD and the TJS each wanted 30 seats, catching the Congress by surprise as it added up to half the state’s 119 constituencies. The Congress high command directed its state unit to offer the TD 10 to 14 seats. The TD first insisted on 20 seats but later come down to 15. The Congress is stuck on 10. Congress sources said the TD might get 12 seats.

The TJS and TIP are annoyed because the Congress offered them one seat each. The TJS has now pared down its demand to 10 seats. The Congress has said it cannot offer it more than three.

TJS leader Prof. M. Kodandaram is reportedly upset at this. A TJS leader said, “Congress leaders are insulting us. They said giving one seat to the TJS was more than enough. We wonder how the Congress leaders think that they would win all the 119 constituencies. They have to remember that they had won only 21 in 2014 and their partner CPI one.”

The election strategy and the planning committee of  the TPCC has expressed  dissatisfaction over the demand of 10 tickets by the TJS and it was openly expressed at a meeting in Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday. A senior Congress leader said, “The TJS has not got any cadre in constituencies. It is not easy to win the elections without a cadre base. They had earlier demanded 30 seats and now have settled at 10. But we feel 10 seats is a huge number for a party that is not established.”