+ A
A -
IANS
Hyderabad
In a major development, opposition Congress, TDP and CPI on Tuesday joined hands to form a grand alliance to take on the ruling TRS in Telangana in the ensuing Assembly elections. The leaders of these parties announced after first round of talks that they are forming the alliance.
This is the first time in Telugu Desam Party's 35-year-old history that it is joining hands with the Congress in a state.
State Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said they would try to bring together all opposition parties to defeat Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The alliance will also seek support of all people's organisations, employees, unemployed and women's groups. The leaders of Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) met at a star hotel in the city.
This was their first meeting to form an alliance. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao last week dissolved the Assembly to go for early elections. The polls are likely in November.
The opposition parties have termed TRS chief's action as undemocratic. Uttam Kumar Reddy, TDP's Telangana unit president L. Ramna and CPI's state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy and other leaders of the three parties held the talks.
Later, they joined leaders of other opposition parties to meet Governor ES L Narasimhan and demand President's rule in the state. They said that free and fair elections were not possible in Telangana with Chandrashekhar Rao as the caretaker Chief Minister.
