NO HEADWAY: Vijayawada MP L. Rajagopal (extreme right), city Congress president P. Sominaidu and Left party leaders — V. Umamaheswara Rao, K. Subba Raju, Ch. Babu Rao and K. Sekhara Babu (extreme left) — at a meeting to discuss seat-shari ng in the forthcoming corporation elections in Vijayawada on Friday.

VIJAYAWADA: The Congress, on Friday, decided to go it alone in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) elections after talks for an alliance with the Left parties finally failed. However, optimists on both sides say that there is still time till the withdrawal of nominations. In fact, Communists are expecting that the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee will intervene and hammer out the differences.

Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal appointed by the Congress as interlocutor said: "The Congress party is ready to allot 16 seats, but the Left parties have asked for 24 seats. Today, we told them that it was difficult to increase the number. We have decided to go ahead with preparing the list of Congress candidates. The lists will be made public after the approval of the PCC on Saturday evening."

Against tie-up

The Left parties, particularly the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have been against an alliance with the Congress in Vijayawada from the very beginning. The Congress cadre and elected representatives like the MLAs and the MP are also not in favour of an alliance with the Left parties for various reasons.

The local Congress leaders were forced to sit together for talks at the instance of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and APCC president K.Keshava Rao. Mr. Rajagopal flew back from New Delhi on Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule, and called the Left for talks. The first meeting was very brief with the Left leaders asking for 24 seats and the mayor's post. The Congress told them that it could offer only 16 and remained non-committal on the mayor post. The second day went by with the Congress and Left leaderships sending across a variety of feelers. Most plausible among them was an offer for 20 seats with rotation for mayor post and a stalemate continued.

18 seats offered?

On Friday, the Congress leaders held discussions at the Andhra Ratna Bhavan (city Congress office) and went for talks with the Left leaders at Sundaraiah Bhavan, the CPI(M) city party office. They offered to increase the number to 18, but the Left rejected the offer outright. Once it became clear that the talks had failed, the Congress leaders decided not to make public they had offered 18 seats.

The Left party leaders have not yet given up hope. CPI(M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao says there is still time for the Congress to change its stand. Asked if the talks for alliance had failed he said: "The Congress is the big party and they invited us for talks. It is up to them to tell us whether there will be an alliance or not. ''

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