CPM goes soft on Telangana poll deal

The CPI(M)’s change of heart might have come a little late though. Hyderabad is agog with rumours that the Congress-TRS talks on seat-sharing have failed. TRS chief Chandrashekhar Rao reportedly walked out of the meeting which has been picked up by the BJP. ‘‘The Congress had betrayed the Telangana cause, it had killed TRS activists. How can Chandrashekhar forget such things?’’ Union Minister and Andhra BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya said.

CPI national secretary D. Raja, who is also negotiating with the TRS, discounted the Congress-TRS differences as ‘‘temporary bargain tactics’’. ‘‘The talks are very much on. Chandrashekhar is bargaining for more parliamentary and Assembly seats from the Congress. One thing is for sure — the Left-Congress-TRS understanding is making the BJP nervous,’’ Raja said from Hyderabad where the CPI is holding its three-day national executive meet. The Congress reportedly offered the TRS three parliamentary seats and 33 of the 294 Assembly seats.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Left will go for an ‘‘understanding’’ with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. In Bihar, it would opt for a deal with Laloo’s RJD and the Congress. ‘‘The Congress is free to get into an understanding with the BSP, it is up to those two parties. We’ll have a broad understanding with Mulayam,’’ Raja said. The Bengal-Kerala equations remain unaltered.