The much-hyped ‘grand alliance’ (MAHA KOOTAMI)of four opposition parties failed to take off as scheduled on Wednesday with Telugu Desam and Telangana Rashtra Samiti unable to iron out differences over sharing of seats in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.Despite hectic consultations that went on till late on Tuesday night and then the entire day on Wednesday, the two parties could not come to an amicable solution. Throughout the day, the TRS leaders held out threats of going it alone even while insisting that the talks were going on and have not failed.Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu hurriedly called the secretaries of State CPI and CPI (M), K. Narayana and B. V. Raghavulu, for discussing the ticklish issue and exploring ways of convincing the TRS leadership. The suspense may continue for some more days, as Wednesday’s deadline set by TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself has come and gone.
The TDP and TRS stuck to their respective stands. While the TRS is believed to have been pressing for 10 Lok Sabha and 50 Assembly seats, the Telugu Desam is prepared to give 7 Lok Sabha and 40 Assembly constituencies. As if to buttress their argument, Mr. Naidu asked partymen to be prepared for sacrifices for the sake of the alliance and to defeat Congress.Meanwhile, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao participated in a ‘yagnam’ for world peace in Hyderabad on Wednesday. It was to coincide with the ‘grand alliance’ meeting, which did not take off. To their further irritation, CPI and CPM were so annoyed with the stand of TRS that their leaders are ready to go alone only with TDP even with out TRS in the group.
