Hyderabad: Still coming to terms with the big blow Congress suffered in Telangana assembly elections, senior party leaders in the state have said no to an alliance with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP for the Lok Sabha polls this year.
Making their dissent clear in a recent review meeting, top leadership expressed confidence that Congress as a standalone party can win more seats.
In fact, the party leaders are of the opinion that Congress could have bagged more seats in the recent polls had it gone solo and not forged an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), sources told News18. “In the recent meeting, a few leaders did express that the alliance has done more harm than good. They feel Congress should go solo in the Lok Sabha polls,” Congress leader Gudur NaryanaReddy told News18.
Together, the TDP and Congress managed to win about 21 seats in the assembly election that was held in the state on December 7. Even then, with Naidu being in the picture, the Congress had to deal with a lot of internal tussle over power distribution and seat-sharing, the sources said.
In the past, some political analysts had pointed out that an alliance with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu could go either way — emerge as a big boon for the Congress or prove fatal. The alliance was also seen as a litmus test for the Mahagatbandhan at the national level — wherein Naidu and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are struggling to stitch an anti-BJP front ahead of Lok Sabha polls.
According to senior Congress leaders, the Andhra Pradesh vs Telangana card played by KCR’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Naidu’s entry into the elections worked against the former. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Naidu were locked in a battle during the Telangana agitation, with the latter opposing the creation of a separate state.
The issue will now be taken to the high command by AICC in-charge general secretary and in-charge of party affairs in Telangana, RC Khuntia, for further discussion. The final decision will be taken up by the high command.
Not just Congress, other parties too, including M Kodandaram’s Telangana Jana Samithi, have openly admitted that the alliance turned out to be a 'flop show'.
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