TJS gives 2-day ultimatum to Congress, threatens to walk out of Mahakutami

The fate of the Mahakutami – the grand alliance of Congress, TDP, TJS and CPI – might be in jeopardy, as the Telangana Jana Samithi has given a two-day ultimatum to the Congress to decide on giving them at least 10 seats of their choice in the upcoming Telangana elections. If they don’t get what they want, the party, led by Professor Kodandaram, has threatened to walk out of the alliance.

After numerous deliberations over seat-sharing, TJS has now firmly told the Congress that they will contest from 40 seats independently if the Congress doesn’t offer them 10 seats by October 24. According to TJS leaders, a meeting that was held on Friday in Hyderabad was inconclusive after the TJS persisted with its initial demand of 15 seats. At the end of the meeting, Congress offered them nine seats after a tough bargain – the party had initially offered the TJS only four seats.

As the stalemate continued on Friday, pressurised by the TJS leaders, Kodandaram made it clear that they would part of the alliance only if they are given 10 seats.

The TJS is also agitated over the fact that of the nine seats that the Congress has offered them, six are losing seats, where the newly formed TJS doesn’t stand a chance. Among them is Siddipet, a TRS stronghold; and Malakpet and Chandrayangutta, both bastions of the Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.

“How is that fair?” asked a TJS leader, “We want the Congress to give us 10 seats of our choice, where we can win. We will contest independently in 40 constituencies if the Congress doesn’t agree to our demand.”

However, Communist Party of India state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy is confident that the alliance will not split.  “The restlessness is growing because the negotiations of seat sharing are still happening. But we are confident that the alliance will continue and dethrone KCR,” he told TNM.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Congress will be announcing their candidate list by month end. The party under the chairmanship of Bhaktacharan Das has shortlisted candidates after conducting three screenings.