The Hindu : Front Page : Left unhappy with TRS sharing dais with NDA

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Monday, May 11, 2009
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Left unhappy with TRS sharing dais with NDA

Special Correspondent

TRS is part of the grand alliance formed by Telugu Desam Party

TRS chief’s move will prove to be a political blunder: CPI
We expect him to be with the alliance when results are out: Karat

NEW DELHI: The Left parties have expressed unhappiness at the Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao sharing the dais with leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Punjab on Sunday and expressing support for the formation.

The TRS was part of the ‘Mahakutami’ (grand alliance) with Left parties formed by the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh to take on the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said the TRS had fought the elections, against the Congress and the BJP, as part of the grand alliance. “We expect him to be with the alliance when the results are out on May 16,” Mr. Karat told The Hindu on phone from Kolkata.

CPI deputy general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy said it was surprising that Mr. Rao joined a political rally organised by the BJP-led NDA partners.

Mr. Reddy said Mr. Rao had not always been consistent in his political line. He said Mr. Rao’s expression of support for the NDA would prove to be a “political blunder” just as he committed a “tactical blunder” forcing his MLAs to resign after snapping ties with the Congress.

The CPI leader said that on Saturday, TRS MP B. Vinod Kumar had told him that his party leader had accepted an invitation from the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to join the rally since the SAD was supportive of a separate Telangana.

Dismissing the justification, Mr. Reddy said the TRS chief’s conduct sent the “wrong signals.” He said after having campaigned in Andhra Pradesh for the defeat of the BJP, now sharing the dais with it was nothing short of “betrayal of the people of Telangana.”

Mr. Rao took part in the rally organised by the Shiromani Akali Dal at Ludhiana and attended by top leaders of the BJP including L.K. Advani and other allies ahead of the May 13 polling in the State.

The BJP is contesting three of the 13 seats in Punjab with its alliance partner contesting the rest. The joint rally was billed as a grand finale to the campaign mounted by the SAD to retain majority of the seats in the State. The SAD-BJP had won 11 of the 13 seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, with the Akalis bagging eight and the BJP winning three.

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