The Congress on Wednesday said it would contest both Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh alone and it will not have any alliance with the ruling Telugu Desam Party, PTI reported.
“We will contest all 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats alone,” All India Congress Committee general secretary Oommen Chandy said. “The TDP allied with us only at the national level, so we will have no truck [with it] in the state.”
The former Kerala chief minister said party office-bearers of the state will meet again on January 31 to discuss poll preparations. The Congress will organise a bus rally in all 13 districts in February, he added.
Chandy welcomed the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the party’s general secretary of Uttar Pradesh East. “An intelligent and daring leader like Priyanka is essential in national politics,” Chandy said. “The country also wishes that Rahul Gandhi becomes the Prime Minister.”
The development comes weeks after the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party formed an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the General Elections later this year, leaving the Congress out of the tie-up.
The Congress had formed an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and two other parties ahead of the Assembly polls in Telangana in December. While the Congress won 19 seats as against 21 in 2014, the Telugu Desam Party won two seats, down from 15 in the last elections.
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