'Cong-TRS alliance did not gel well in local polls'

New Delhi, July 5: Close on the heels of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) receiving a drubbing in its Telangana region, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy today said that Congress' alliance with the TRS did not 'gel well' but indicated taking that party along.

Reacting to the election results of the 443 seats in the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies in Telangana region, he said although the Congress and its allies TRS and CPI managed to win 243 seats, the Opposition Telugu Desam alliance had managed to secure 194 seats in nine Telangana districts and securing Adilabad.

He said the 'critical comments' exchanged between his party and the TRS during the last one and a half years did not go well with the electorate. The party had done extremely well in nine coastal districts and four Rayalaseema districts leaving the opposition way behind.

Asked if the results suggested that there should be rethinking about having TRS in the alliance, Dr Reddy said even in Telangana region, the Congress-led alliance had done better than the Opposition alliance but not to the extent of other regions. He maintained that TRS was a Congress ally supporting the UPA government at the Centre and had to work for mutual advantage. The TRS did not do well by winning only 24 of the 60 seats allotted to it.

About the CPI-M aligning with the TDP, he said it was because of 'local factor' and the AICC had not given much importance to the local problems. The CPI-M was in an expanding mode and probably the TDP offered more seats than the Congress could offer, he said.

He said he had discussed with the Congress leadership the resounding success achieved by the Congress and its allies winning 718 of the 1097 seats securing 65.45 per cent of votes as against 372 seats secured by the TDP and its allies which had polled 33.91 per cent of the votes cast.

UNI