The talks over seat sharing within the partners of the yet-to-be formed grant alliance or Maha Kootami are facing a deadlock, with the Congress party deciding not to compromise on contesting the maximum number of seats in Telangana in the ensuing assembly elections.
Telangana PCC president Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy sent strong signals to the alliance partners that the Congress would be the leading partner in the alliance and it would have to come to power on its own.
“We are still negotiating on the composition of the grand alliance, its common minimum programme and formation of a coordination committee.
“We have to decide on who would head the coordination committee which would formulate a common manifesto. Only after that, we shall discuss about the seat sharing,” Uttam said in an informal chat with the media.
He said the Congress would not sacrifice any seats, in which it has fair chances of winning, for the sake of allies.
“The focus of the alliance will be defeating the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, but not disturbing our own seats. We have held first round of discussions and we shall continue with further rounds shortly,” he said.
Uttam said he had asked the All India Congress Committee to constitute party’s election committees, which were still under the examination of party president Rahul Gandhi.
“The screening committee is examining the applications of the Congress candidates for various seats. However, the list will not be released unless the grand alliance issue is not settled,” he said.