Second triangle alliance in AP: Congress to join forces with CPI, CPI(M) for State, LS polls

Vijayawada: To demonstrate its strength in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress party intends to join forces with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the upcoming AP State Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The communist party members, associated with Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu so far, are said to come together in a poll alliance. A few months ago, the TDP announced its alliance with the Jana Sena Party and is now awaiting the Bharatiya Janata Party to join them to dethrone the YSR Congress Party from power.

A delegation of CPI leaders, comprising party secretary in Andhra Pradesh K Ramakrishna, senior leaders Mupalla Nageswara Rao, Akkineni Vanaja and Jelli Willson, CPI(M) leaders comprising former MLA MA Gaffoor, senior leaders Venkateswara Rao and Srinivasa Rao, held preliminary rounds of discussions with Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president YS Sharmila at Andhra Ratna Bhavan here on Friday.

Congress has higher applicants since last year

Following Sharmila’s entrance, the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh has been exhibiting vigour in its activities. In the last election, Congress lost deposits in every one of the 175 Assembly constituencies. This time around, things are a little better, since several candidates are vying for Congress tickets in several areas.

Sharmila, who had already announced that the Congress would contest 175 Assembly seats and 25 MP seats in the state, discussed the possible alliance and seat sharing between the two parties.

Apart from that, she also discussed plans for agitations against policies made by the BJP government led by prime minister Narendra Modi and the YSRCP government led by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and strengthening cordial relations between the INDIA alliance group in light of the upcoming General and Andhra Pradesh State Assembly Elections 2024. The meeting concluded successfully with the Congress, CPI and CPI(M) mutually agreeing to ally. Soon, the leaders would convene a round table conference to disclose their future course of action.

Second triangle alliance in AP

This will be the second triangle alliance in AP following the one between TDP, JSP, and BJP soon to be formed, as the Congress party will form an alliance with CPI and CPI(M) for the elections. Sharmila had even invited the Left party leaders to the meeting to be addressed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjuna Kharge at Anantapur on February 26. After the meeting, Sharmila criticised Jagan for making Andhra Pradesh a capital-less state.

“We have decided to agitate unitedly against the YSRCP government. Jagan, who made tall claims of pressurising the Centre to grant special category status to the state while he was in Opposition, remained a mute spectator after becoming the chief minister. Not even a single agitation was made by the ruling party about the raw deal meted out to the state during the NDA rule. Due to inordinate delay in special category status, industrialists are not showing up to invest. If Congress was in power, the state would get a special category,” the APCC president said.