By IANS,
Hyderabad : The proposed grand alliance of opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh has hit a roadblock with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Wednesday deferring an announcement on joining the grouping.
The TRS, which was scheduled to announce its decision to join the front Wednesday, is having second thoughts following a stalemate in seat-sharing talks with the main opposition Telugu Desam Party.
The TRS state committee, which met here Wednesday, authorised party president K. Chandrasekhara Rao to take a decision on electoral alliance.
“The party has authorised KCR to take decision,” his son and party general secretary K. Rama Rao told reporters at Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters.
The TDP has not agreed to the TRS demand for 10 Lok Sabha and 50 assembly seats and is reportedly ready to give nine Lok Sabha and 45 assembly constituencies.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) are the other constituents of the alliance.
Rama Rao said the only goal of the TRS was to achieve separate statehood to the Telangana region.
The TRS decision to defer a decision on joining the mega alliance came amid reports that the Congress leadership had stepped up efforts to take a clear stand on the Telangana issue.
Party president Sonia Gandhi was holding talks with the state leadership, including Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
The ruling party leaders from Telangana region had already cautioned the central leadership that if the TRS joined the mega alliance it would badly impact the Congress prospects.
KCR’s son, however, ruled out any alliance with the Congress, saying the party had betrayed the cause of Telangana.
The TRS had come closer to the TDP after it recently dumped its traditional stand against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to support the demand for a separate Telangana state.
The TRS fought 2004 elections in alliance with the Congress. The CPI and CPI-M were the other partners of the Congress-led alliance, which wrested power from the TDP.
The sub-regional party, which bagged 26 seats in the state assembly and five Lok Sabha seats, joined the Congress-led governments in the state and in New Delhi. It, however, pulled out of the coalition, accusing the Congress party of going back on its promise to carve out a separate state.
The Telangana region sends 119 legislators to 294-member state assembly. It also accounts for 16 out of 42 Lok Sabha members from the state.