Telangana elections: Congress to release first list amidst clauses to allies

New Delhi, Oct 31: The Congress list for the Telangana assembly elections is almost final. The Congress which is in alliance with the TDP, CPI and TJS is expected to release its first list of candidates tomorrow.

While the seat sharing deal with all parties is complete, there appears to be some issue where the TJS is concerned. The TJS is not in any mood to surrender seats at this juncture. The Congress put out an offer and assured that TJS founder, Kodandram would be made a Rajya Sabha MP.

This offer however comes with a clause. The TJS would have to settle for less than 10 seats. Another demand that he would have to concede is the post of deputy chief minister if the alliance comes to power. This offer was however made initially by the Congress, but now the party wants both these clauses dropped if Kodandram is made a Rajya Sabha MP.

On the other hand the Congress has an unofficial list ready for at least 56 constituencies. The Congress, which has already lost time in delaying the announcement would go ahead and announce the first list on November 1, even if the talks with the allies remain inconclusive, sources tell OneIndia.

The talks would continue, but the Congress would release the list of candidates, who are confident of retaining their existing seats. Some of the names that would be part of the list would include, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Revanth Reddy, Jana Reddy, Venkat Reddy, Mallu Bhatti, D K Aruna, Jeevan Reddy, Damodar Rajanarasimha, Ponnala Laxmaiah and Sabitha Indra Reddy.