CONGRESS TO GO ALONE: YSR

Congress To Go Alone, Says Ysr
NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has announced that the Congress will go alone in the ensuing Assembly election and contest all the 294 seats. He made it clear that there would be no pre-poll tie-up.Confident
He said that as the party was the reigning champion, it was confident of retaining power and whoever won in the semi-finals Praja Rajyam, TDP or some other party, would be the main opponent to the Congress in the poll. Parties which were afraid of the Congress had been working out tie-ups.
Asked whether Mr. Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam was fit enough to fight with the Congress in the finals, he quipped: “In a democracy everyone has an opportunity to contest and Chiranjeevi too is welcome.” Dr. Reddy was talking to reporters after a meeting with AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
He indirectly hit out at the TDP on the Telangana issue by stating that the Congress need not change its stand on the subject now. Unlike some people (read TDP), the party was never against the formation of separate Telengana and it was firm in its stand. The decision had to be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and she “is having a positive attitude on the subject”.
There were only two options to resolve it – one is setting up of the State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) and the other is gaining consensus. Since the opposition had strongly opposed the SRC, it was deferred and the only option left now was arriving at a consensus among all parties, he said.
Dr. Reddy took a dig at Mr. Chiranjeevi by stating that irrespective of his high profile visit to Sircilla, the government would leave no stone unturned to ensure that no weaver was jobless. Mr. Chiranjeevi, a political novice, should equip himself with full details and cross-check facts before attacking the government.
He said he had urged Ms. Sonia Gandhi to work out some debt relief package for the weavers. To a question, he disclosed that Ms. Gandhi would again tour the State after Deepavali next month.