Congress rules out tie-up with TRS

Hyderabad: The Congress on Sunday made it clear that it will not have an alliance with the TRS in the state. As far as the Congress is concerned, it considers TRS and BJP as its main political opponents. "There is no question of any poll alliance with TRS," said Manickam Tagore AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana. "The rumours of Congress coalition with TRS are totally false. Congress won't move back an inch from our commitment to save Telangana from TRS and BJP. Let this be crystal clear to those spreading rumours," clarified Tagore.

This was also the view of Rahul Gandhi, he said.

It may be mentioned here that Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy had said after a meeting with Rahul Gandhi, a couple of days back, that the latter made it clear that the Congress will not forge an alliance with the TRS.

Tagore asked the party cadres to prepare for the May 6 rally at Warangal which will be addressed by Rahul Gandhi. He said during his visit to Telangana, Rahul will hold a meeting with party leaders at Hyderabad on May 7.

Gandhi's visit, the first to Telangana since 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is seen as an attempt to revitalise the party in the state. The Congress suffered a series of setbacks since the 2018 Assembly elections. It won only 19 seats in the 119-member Assembly in 2018 when the TRS retained power with a huge majority. A few months after the polls, at least a dozen legislators of the Congress defected to the TRS. With just six MLAs left in Assembly, Congress lost the status of main opposition party and suffered a humiliating defeat in by-elections to a couple of Assembly seats, which the BJP won to project itself as the viable alternative to the TRS.