Congress list only after alliance takes shape

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) has made it clear that the list of the Congress nominees would be finalised only after the alliances with other like-minded parties in the state take a definite shape.

In an informal interaction with media persons here on Monday, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that only after deciding the number of seats and which of them would be, the question of who should be fielded would arise. “The party’s screening committee will take a call on it at an appropriate time,” he said.

The Congress is trying to strike an alliance with the TDP, TJS aTDP, TJS and CPI and the talks are in various stages now. Unless all of them sit together and decide on the number of seats, the party leadership would not get around to deciding the candidates. At present the Congress party was seized of the issue of a formulating a common minimum programme acceptable to all the constituents of the alliance.

He, however, said that there was no question of the Congress sacrificing the seats which it is sure to win. But the party would persuade and convince the other constituents before finalising the candidates in the overall interests of the Grand Alliance.

The TPCC president, referring to constitution of election committees, said that he was also looking forward to an early decision. “The issue is under consideration of the party president Rahul Gandhi,” he said. On the crucial question of who the face of the Grand Alliance should be, he said a decision would be taken only after discussing the issue with all the other constituents of the alliance.