Babu jumps in to break Mahakutami deadlock

​Hyderabad:  With the Telangana Assembly elections fast approaching, TDP president and AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu plunged into action to break the deadlock on seat-sharing between the Congress and TDP and also pacify the leaders who are vying for party tickets more than the party quota in the Grand Alliance (Mahakutami).

Naidu exhorted the ticket aspirants to maintain restraint since the victory of Mahakutami was the need of the hour. It should serve as an alternative to the BJP-led NDA at the national level before going to the general election in 2019. The TDP chief reportedly decided not to mount pressure on the Congress for more seats and instead work hard for the victory of Mahakutami candidates.     

Naidu held a meeting with his party politburo, national committee and Telangana state committee leaders and reviewed the progress in the finalization of the seats at the TDP head office NTR Trust Bhavan here on Monday. 

The TDP chief told his partymen that he will address seat-sharing issue by holding talks with Congress leaders if the issue is not resolved in two days. Telugu Desam has been demanding not less than 20 seats out of the total 119 Assembly segments in Telangana. The Congress is ready to allot 10 to 12 seats only as part of the poll pact among the grand alliance partners.

  The TDP has already forwarded the list of seats from where the party is keen to field its candidates to the Congress. It is demanding 5 seats in GHMC limits, 4 in Khammam, three in Mahbubnagar, two in Nizamabad and one each in Warangal and Nalgonda. 
   
The party leaders informed Naidu that the Congress was not ready to give more than 12 seats to the TDP. The number of aspirants vying to contest the elections are more than 20. Most of them are senior leaders who claimed maintaining strong cadre and people’s support in their respective segments. 

Naidu assured the aspirants that they will be given nominated posts, including MLCs, once the grand alliance comes to power in Telangana.  He also told the leaders that the party will take care of their political future.

The TDP chief responded positively to the party leaders’ request to take part in the poll campaign.  The TDP is planning to hold public meetings in Hyderabad and Khammam district. The conduct of joint public meetings to be addressed by the TDP chief and AICC president Rahul Gandhi and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is also under consideration.  

Briefing the press after the meeting, senior leader R Chandrashekhar Reddy said the party’s elections manifesto prepared by the committee was also discussed in the meeting. The suggestions made by Naidu will be included.