Congress party not to name CM candidate in Telangana
What's the story
The Congress would not name the Chief Ministerial candidate in poll-bound Telangana, where it would fight the Assembly elections jointly with the TDP, CPI, and Telangana Jana Samithi, a key party leader said today.
The AICC in-charge of Telangana, RC Khuntia maintained that the usual practice in the Congress wasn't to name the party's Chief Ministerial candidate before any Assembly election.
Here's more.
Strategies
CM candidate will be finalized after the election: Khuntia
"TPCC (Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee) President, Uttam Kumar Reddy will lead the campaign but the Chief Ministerial candidate will be finalized after the election," Khuntia said.
"It'll be decided after the election results come out, with the views of MLAs, in consultation with our President Rahul Gandhi," he said.
Election Commission is yet to come out with the poll schedule for the State.
Past events
In 2014 elections, Congress had won 21 seats in Telangana
Telangana Assembly was dissolved on September 6, more than eight months ahead of the expiry of its term, on the recommendation of (now) Caretaker CM KC Rao, who opted to go for early elections.
The Congress, which won 21 seats in the 119-member Assembly in the 2014 elections, has since struck an understanding with TDP, CPI and TJS to fight the election jointly.
Details
Seat sharing details haven't been finalized, says Khuntia
However, "Seat sharing details haven't been finalized but we've agreed to fight jointly," Khuntia said. "We will have a common agenda, and also some strategy to campaign jointly."
"It's not the question of numbers; it's a question of winnability," he said, adding, while the Congress is the major partner, the three other parties would get "preference" in segments where they're in a better position.