New Delhi

TRS-Left parties’ alliance finalised

NEW DELHI: In an interesting twist to the current political scenario in Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has finalised an electoral alliance for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections with the Left parties, which have all along been opposed to the bifurcation of the State.

TRS president K.Chandrashekhar Rao, who met CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechuri, here on Sunday to discuss the electoral pact, said though the alliance would mainly focus on Andhra Pradesh it would also keep the national scenario in mind. “We’ve decided to work together for the AP polls. Our future allies, whether it is TDP or Praja Rajyam, will be decided later. But the CPI (M), CPI and TRS will be together and the finer details would be worked out later,” he said.

CPI secretary K. Narayana told The Hindu from Hyderabad that his party, in principle, had no objection to fight the elections with the TRS, and the State unit wished that the Praja Rajyam led by Chiranjeevi too could be included in the Left-TRS combine.

Mr. Yechuri said the seat sharing arrangements were also discussed to avoid any clash. His party’s main aim was to strengthen the non-BJP and non-Congress alliance.

Left unity was important not only in Andhra Pradesh but at the national level, the CPI(M) leader said.

Asked whether there was a change in the CPI (M)’s stand on Telangana due to its electoral pact with TRS, he said the party’s stand was well-known.

It was not for the further division of the State which had already been divided on linguistic basis. “It is not only on Telangana. We are taking a position for the country as a whole. The CPI (M) opposed the formation of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand but they were formed. But our stand remains the same.”

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