Azharuddin keen on joining Cong

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Former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin met chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, PCC president D Srinivas and AICC general secretary M Veerappa Moily on Thursday. Sources said he indicated his desire to join the Congress.

In most likelihood, Azharuddin may be fielded as the Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha from either Secunderabad or Nizamabad constituencies, the source added.

Azharuddin went to Lake View Guest House around 4 pm where the Congress leaders were in a meeting to finalise the candidates for the Legislative Council elections. The former Indian captain was with them for half an hour and left the guest house without talking to the waiting media.

Party sources confirmed that Azhar expressed his intention to join the party to the three leaders. "He is certainly interested in joining the party. A decision to this effect will be announced in a couple of days," said PCC media in charge N Manohar.

Source: Timesofindia
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Angry KCR rejects Naidu's company

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In a major embarrassment to the opposition, the grand alliance that was touted by the TDP, TRS and Left parties virtually collapsed even before it could be forged with TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao indicating clearly on Thursday that he and the TDP-Left have taken irreversible paths.

At a press conference, Rao said that he and the party rank and file felt offended over the statements "planted," by the alliance partners over the seat sharing exercise. He claimed that the TRS was a bigger party than the TDP in the Telangana region and that it is the TDP that should accept the number of seats the TRS would leave for them and not vice versa. "Who are they to give seats to us. We are not beggars," he said in reply to a question.

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu is away on a tour of north coastal Andhra, and party general secretary Kadiam Srihari said on Thursday said the TDP will not react to KCR's statements until he makes a formal announcement of aborting the alliance. The CPM and CPI were hopeful that matters would be amicably sorted out. Naidu is expected to return to Hyderabad on Saturday.

The alliance appears to have crumbled on the issue of seat-sharing. The TRS wanted more than what the TDP offered, and the talks ended inconclusively on Wednesday. And when the coordination committee of all the parties was to meet on Thursday, the TRS representative stayed away.

At the press conference, KCR claimed the TRS would not accept anything less than 10 Lok Sabha seats and 50 assembly seats. "On our own, we can win 45 assembly and seven Lok Sabha seats," he said. He also charged the media with misreporting the talks they had with TDP on seat sharing on Wednesday. The TDP has not maintained decorum and planted all kinds of stories, Rao alleged.

When asked why did the TRS not attend the coordination committee meeting of the alliance on Thursday, he said they were of the opinion that unless a clear understanding on seats was arrived at, there was no point in attending such meetings. "We should be clear whether we are joining the grand alliance or not," he added.

He also denied that he and Naidu held talks on the seat-sharing stalemate on Wednesday. "It's all media creation. Soon we will make a formal announcement on the issue. We have not met directly and discussed this issue so far," he said. The TDP also needs to make its stand clear on projects like Polavaram and Pulichintala as well as Maoists and naxalites.

Source: Timesofindia
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