T-Congress finalises alliance with CPI

The Congress and Communist Party of India have agreed to enter into an alliance in Telangana during the ensuing Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

According to sources, the two parties will have a pre-poll alliance with the CPI contesting on one Lok Sabha and 12 Assembly seats. As against the CPI's demand for three Lok Sabha seats, the Congress has agreed to leave just one seat while the CPI's demand for 22 Assembly was scaled down to 12 seats. Both the parties are likely to make a formal announcement after Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah returns from Delhi. He will have a meeting with CPI's State Secretary K Narayana to formalise the alliance.

Sources say that the Congress might leave the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Gutta Sukhender Reddy, to the CPI. However, speaking to media persons here on Monday, Gutta made it clear that he would contest from Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat. Confirming that his party was having an alliance with the CPI, he said both the parties would benefit if he contest from Nalgonda seat. Earlier, there were speculations that Gutta might be shifted to the Miryalguda Assembly segment.

The CPI-Congress alliance would badly hit Komatireddy brothers in Nalgonda district. While Komatireddy Venkata Reddy was elected from the Nalgonda Assembly seat, his brother Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy represents the Lok Sabha from Bhongir. Since the Komatireddy Reddy are reportedly planning to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Congress party is most likely to leave both the seats to its ally.