Date:20/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/20/stories/2008042059430600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Dattatreya rules out alliance with other parties for bypolls

Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has firmly shut the door on the option of cobbling up an alliance with a political party for the ensuing by-election.

Though the party’s Election Management Committee is scheduled to meet on Sunday to make the final poll arrangements and pacts before the battle lines are drawn, the party’s State president Bandaru Dattatreya has announced that the party is not for alliance. Though the party is very much in favour of a separate Telangana, it is however not inclined to sail with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). At a media conference here on Saturday, Mr. Dattatreya said regional parties can never make any progress on a national issue like achieving separate Telangana.