The Hindu : TRS to release first list on February 11

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 05, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TRS to release first list on February 11

By Y. Mallikarjun

HYDERABAD, FEB.4. Virtually ruling out the possibility of having an electoral tie-up with the Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), president, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has announced that the first list of his party's nominees for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be released on February 11 after performing puja at Lord Narasimha Swamy's temple at Yadagirigutta.

After releasing the first list, Mr. Rao will formally launch his election campaign, `Telangana atma gourva yatra' from the same place. He will travel for most part in a specially-made air-conditioned bus and opt for a helicopter during the last fortnight of electioneering.

Talking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, he said the question of having truck with the Congress was "almost" ruled out. The TRS would be contesting independently all 107 Assembly and 16 Lok Sabha seats in the Telangana region. He questioned the need for having a tie-up with the Congress when his party was in a position to win "comfortably" a good number of seats on its own. "We had earlier thought of having an alliance as part of our strategy to prevent the TDP from coming to power again.''

He claimed that studies conducted by psephologists engaged by his party had revealed that there was a "wave" in favour of the TRS in the region. People of Telangana realised that it would be a question of now or never for Telangana State and the emotion would translate into votes. He said opinion-makers among the masses such as intellectuals, advocates, writers, retired employees, teaching staff of Kakatiya and Osmania Universities were solidly behind the TRS.

Asked if his party's decision would not split the opposition vote and benefit the TDP-BJP combine, he shot back, " There won't be any split in the votes. The pro-Telangana vote will come to us. The anti-Telangana vote will be divided between the TDP and the Congress.''

Declaring that the winning chances of candidates would be the sole criterion in selecting them, Mr. Rao said he had not made up his mind whether to contest for the Assembly or the Lok Sabha. The party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) would meet in the next few days and take a decision in this regard, he added. (However, TRS sources said that Mr. Rao in all likelihood would contest for the Lok Sabha either from Karimnagar or Hanamkonda).

With the party having received more than 1,000 applications for the Assembly and over 100 for Lok Sabha seats, he said that 50 teams would visit from tomorrow all constituencies (each team would visit two constituencies) to assess the winning potential of applicants and submit a report to Mr. Rao in the next three to four days. Later, the PAC would meet and select nominees.

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