All-India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, said the Congress is prepared to contest all the 119 Assembly and 17 Parliament seats in Telangana.
At the same time, Mr. Singh did not rule out an electoral alliance with TRS, saying, “We shall consider if we get concrete proposals.”
At a Meet-the-press programme organised by Hyderabad Press Club here on Friday, Mr. Singh squarely blamed TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao for going back on his promise to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to merge the TRS. “Yet, the Congress respected Mr. Rao’s decision,” he said.
In this context, Mr. Singh recalled Mr. Rao’s statement that there was no need for the latter to continue the party after the formation of Telangana.
He lashed out at former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, saying that the Congress was disappointed after he promised Ms. Gandhi he would not leave the party and launch his own in the wake of the decision of the high command to divide the State.
He said the Congress did not reprimand Mr. Reddy for his comments against the high command as it did not want to impose its will on the leaders. He denied that the Congress had committed ‘political harakari’ and said the decision was a conscious one though not easy to take because everyone had to be taken on board. He also said the Congress would contest all the 175 Assembly and 25 Parliament seats in Seemandhra. On actor Pawan Kalyan’s party, he said: “The more, the merrier.”
