Parties discuss poll alliances

Hyderabad, Jun 11 (UNI) With the panchayat elections to be held on June 28 and July 2 in Andhra Pradesh coming up, the ruling Congress, CPI, CPM, TRS and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today began discussions for poll alliances.

The Congress under the leadership of the Chief minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and PCC President K Keshava Rao held discussions with the CPI state Secreatry K Narayana and MP S Sudhakar Reddy.

Both the parties agreed to fight unitedly by sharing the seats after consulting the local party leaders and district ministers.

The CPI had sought ten per cent of Zilla Parishad Territorial Constitutency (ZPTC) seats in the state. Stating that the CPI would not hesitate to contest against the TRS where it has strong presence, Mr Narayana told newsmen that seat-sharing would be finalised on June 17.

A delegation of the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS), the estranged ally of the Congress, led by the senior leader and union minnister of state for Rural Development A Narendra also agreed to have an alliance with the Congress after meeting the PCC Chief and Chief minister.

Mr Narendra said his party had joined hands with the Congress to defeat the Telugu Desam Party(TDP) in the Telangana region. ''We will finalise the seats after discussing the issue with the party's local cadre. The TRS will not field candidates against the CPI as this would benefit the TDP,'' he added.

Referring to the CPM's demand that it wanted two Zilla Parishad(ZP) Chairmen posts as part of the alliance with Congress, PCC Chief Rao said that the Congress was ready to allocate either Nalgonda or khammam district ZP Chairman post to CPM.

He said the seat sharing and Zilla Parishad Chairmen posts would be finalized after another round of talks with the TRS and CPI on June 13.

In an attempt to take back into its fold its former ally, the TDP today accepted the CPM's demand of two ZP Chairmen posts of Nalgonda and Khammam districts. The TDP high command had also directed the local party leaders and district party units support the CPM in the elections.

Senior TDP leader and former Home minister T Devender Goud said the TDP was ready to join hands with the CPM and the seat sharing issue would be cleared at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the BJP state unit General Secretary K Laxman termed the poll alliances between the Congress, CPI, CPM, TRS and TDP as 'opportunitic'.

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