NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Wednesday said the outcome of the panchayat elections in the Telangana region showed that the Congress-Telangana Rashtra Samiti alliance `did not gel well'.

"Somehow in Telangana, even though the alliance has won, the victory is not substantial and not as good as in coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions. The main reason is that the alliance between the Congress and the TRS has not been getting on well for the last year and a half as there have been critical remarks between the two parties... if only we had closed ranks well in time, we could have done well,'' Dr. Reddy said at a press conference here. However, he emphasised that the Congress and TRS were allies at the Centre and both had to work for mutual advantage.

Verdict on Telangana?

To a question on whether the result could be seen as a verdict on Telangana, Dr. Reddy said if TDP, a votary for united Andhra Pradesh, got nearly 30 per cent of the ZPTCs one could not say that those who wanted separate Telangana would have voted for that party.

In Telangana region, the Congress-TRS won 7 out of 9 districts losing Adilabad and Ranga Reddy to TDP. In Khammam the result was a tie. The Chief Minister said he apprised Congress president Sonia Gandhi of the Congress alliance winning 19 of 22 districts covering all three regions. He also spoke to AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh.

Dr. Reddy, who was here to attend the meeting of Congress Chief Ministers on price rise, said he suggested giving a subsidy of Rs. 10 per kg of imported pulses as a short-term measure.

He also proposed increasing the minimum support price for pulses to Rs. 1750 to encourage farmers to opt for pulse production and promulgating an order to control the hoarding of stocks by wholesalers under essential commodities law.

The Chief Minister said the crop area under pulses had been stagnant for decades and productivity was also low. He suggested measures to increase the crop area under pulses and strengthening of the technology mission to increase the productivity of pulses and to reduce input costs for farmers to make it remunerative.

As regards the public distribution system, he said nearly 85 per cent of eligible families were covered and getting rice at Rs. 6.40 per kg. He said Andhra Pradesh was basically a rice consuming and growing State and the procurement was in order.

He suggested that while he was not for imposing restrictions on movement of foodgrains, traders should display their stocks they were holding. He said a balance had to be struck so that while farmers were benefited, consumers also got commodities at affordable prices.

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