After more than a month of speculation, the Mahakutami or grand alliance being forged in Telangana seems to have finally reached a consensus on seat sharing for the upcoming polls in the state, scheduled to be held on December 7.
The Congress-led alliance includes the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
Speaking to reporters on Thursday night, Congress General Secretary R C Khuntia said that the party had decided to allot 14 seats to the TDP, 8 seats to the TJS and 3 seats to CPI, adding that one seat may go to Telangana inti party, led by Cheruku Sudhakar, a former TRS leader. This left the Congress with 93 seats.
"The next Central Election Committee meeting of the party will be held on November 11 or 12. The first list of the Congress and its allies would be released on November 10 in Hyderabad,” Khuntia said.
While TJS chief Kodandaram is travelling to New Delhi on Friday to negotiate the constituencies that the party wishes to contest, the CPI has called for a state executive meeting to discuss the seats that have been allotted to it. The CPI has also been offered two MLC seats as compensation, as it had demanded at least five MLA tickets.
It has also been decided that Kodandaram would likely file his nomination to contest from Jangaon.
Earlier this week, the alliance witnessed an open rift as the CPI went to the media and claimed that it was not getting its due share.
“The CPI was very patient. Since the beginning, we have been asking them (Congress) not to delay the seat-sharing decision. As there’s no information on this, we have announced our plan B. In the next two days, if the Congress doesn’t give nine seats, we will announce candidates for these nine constituencies and begin our campaign,” state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy had said.
The TJS had also staged a similar revolt last month. However, after weeks of deliberation, it seems that the allies have reached an understanding.
Telangana is headed to the polls after caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the Legislative Assembly on September 6. The Election Commission has said that the notification last date for filing nominations is November 19. Voting will take place on December 7 and the results will be announced on December 11. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is also already in place in the state.