'Seat-sharing deal for Telangana Assembly polls finalised': Congress

Hyderabad: Seat-sharing deal among partners of the Congress-led grand alliance for the December 7 Assembly elections in Telangana has been finalised, a key AICC functionary said Thursday.

The AICC in-charge of Telangana affairs, R C Khuntia told news agency PTI, "Seat-sharing has been finalised. It will be announced after its approval by Congress President Rahul Gandhi."

This ends weeks of negotiations that the Congress had with its electoral partners--the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Khuntia did not say how many seats the Congress would contest in the polls for the 119-member Assembly but party sources indicated that it would not be less than 90.

A TDP leader claimed that his party may get 14 to 18 seats.

The founder-President of TJS, Prof M Kodandaram said the Congress has offered his party eight to ten seats, whereas he is seeking a minimum of 12 but expressed hope that the issue would be settled.

"Some adjustment has to happen but we are more worried about the delay (in finalising the seat-sharing formula). Delay is the major issue," he told PTI.

The CPI has been offered three seats. "We are going to discuss the offer tomorrow at our state executive meeting and decide about it," CPI General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said.

In addition, the party has been offered two MLC seats. He termed the offer "comparatively good in the present circumstances", but said the feeling among the party cadre is that it should have got two more Assembly seats.

The TRS and the BJP are going it alone in the poll, the notification for which would be issued on November 12.