Opposition to form 'People's Front' in Telangana to take on BJP in Lok Sabha polls

The general mood in the Congress, TDP, CPI and TJS seem to favour fighting the coming Lok Sabha elections together in Telangana like in the assembly polls last year, a leader of one of the parties said Tuesday. The four parties had formed the "Prajakutami" (People's Front) to take on the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the December 7 assembly election.

"That seems to be the general mood right now", Prajakutami convenor and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) President Prof.M Kodandaram told PTI when asked if the four parties would come together again for the Lok Sabha elections due by May. Leaders of the four parties would meet soon, he said.

"We (TJS) met CPI (Communist Party of India) independently, spoke to them at length. Met a few Congress leaders but no concrete ideas or decisions. Generally exchanged ideas on current situation", Kodandaram said. The Prajakutami came to a cropper in the election to the 119-member assembly in which the TRS returned to power with 88 seats.

The Congress came a distant second with 19 seats, while the TDP got two. The CPI and TJS drew a blank. The BJP, which fought on its own, bagged one seat. "We feel that our campaign strategy was a big failure (in the assembly election) though we had a good agenda. That's the reason for our miserable performance", Kodandaram said.

(With inputs from agencies.)