Grand Alliance unlikely to hold joint public meet

Express News Service
3/4/2009 3:46:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The Grand Alliance is unlikely to hold a joint public meeting -- Maha Garjana.
After the TDP, the TRS, the CPM and the CPI formed the Grand Alliance, they thought of holding a massive public meeting. But now they have second thoughts over holding the joint public meeting.
“The proposed meeting has almost been cancelled.
This is because of lack of time,” said a TDP leader.
The Grand Alliance leaders initially planned to hold the meeting on March 9 in Hyderabad.
As the Parade Grounds was not free on March 9, the Grand Alliance leaders also inspected a ground near Shamshabad yesterday. They also planned to hold the meeting either on March 15 or 16 as TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu had to attend a Third Front meeting in Bangalore on March 12.
There were no auspicious dates before March 15, the TDP leaders said.
Holding a meeting after March 16 will not be possible as all the leaders of the four parties will be busy in finalising the list of contesting candidates and preparing manifestoes, the sources said. “We are running short of time,” they added.
Though the Grand Alliance leaders are citing time factor for cancelling the proposed meeting, there is much to read between the lines.
The Congress, which held joint meetings in the 2004 elections with the TRS and the Left, later faced severe criticism that by exchanging pink scarfs, the Congress had ditched the TRS on the Telangana issue.
To avoid such an embarrassing situation after the elections, the TDP was tactically avoiding a joint public meeting, analysts felt.