Congress final list likely today, alliance talks with Left Parties on

Hyderabad: The Congress is likely to declare its final list of candidates for the Assembly polls on Wednesday. The party has named 100 candidates so far, 55 in the first list on October 15 and 45 in the second list on October 27. Nominees are yet to be fielded for 19 seats.

With regard to the alliance with the communist parties, the Congress has offered the CPI the Kothagudem and Chennur seats, and the party has accepted. The CPM has sought the Miryalaguda and Wyra seats but the Congress is not willing to part with the latter. It has offered a seat in the GHMC limits in exchange, which the CPM has reportedly turned down.

It remains to be seen whether the Congress will announce candidates for 15 seats on Wednesday, excluding the four offered to the Left parties; 19 seats if the alliance talks, or 17 if only the tie-up with the CPI survives.

The Congress CEC (central election committee) led by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge met in Delhi on Tuesday to finalise the third list. The committee also spoke to the CPI and CPM national leadership to persuade them to accept the seats. The Left was told that if the Congress was voted to power, it would allot MLC seats.