Ending long days of speculation, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is all set to join a 'grand alliance', headed by Andhra Pradesh's main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which also includes the Left parties (CPI and CPI-M), for the ensuing assembly and the Lok Sabha elections.

 

TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters at his residence Monday (5^th January) night that a joint announcement on the electoral alliance would be made after the Sankranti festival next week, most probably on January 21.

 

Asked to comment on the party's stand on the alliance, senior leader T Harish Rao said, that it would go with a party which would support the separate state. He further added that seat sharing would not be a problem among the parties of the alliance.

 

Earlier, the TRS leader had driven to Naidu's house, indicating that their alliance was more or less finalized. It was a significant move by KCR as the two leaders have been bitter rivals since he quit the TDP in 2001 to revive the movement for separate statehood to the Telangana region.

 

Senior Congress leaders from Telangana have warned the party leadership that this would prove costly to them in the elections. The Telangana region sends 119 legislators to the 294-member state assembly and also accounts for 16 out of 42 Lok Sabha members from the state.