Hyderabad, Feb 20: The ensuing by-elections to 7 assembly constituencies are turning out to be more complex than initially appeared. While it was thought earlier that in the by-elections to 6 Assembly seats in the Telangana region, parties supporting Telangana would come to an understanding on who to contest which seat, it is now appearing to be turning into a free-for-all.

TRS has announced candidates for 5 of the six seats and decided not to field candidate against Nagam Janardana Reddy in Nagar Kurnool, as he has resigned for Telangana. It is learnt that the TRS has not even consulted the political JAC, before announcing its candidates. Hurt by this posture, BJP which is also a strong advocate of Telangana, has announced that it would contest in some seats in Telangana. Initial reports suggest that BJP also would put up candidates in all the Telangana seats except Nagam’s Nagar Kurnool. The party has also decided to field a candidate in Kovuru constituency of Nellore district.

This announcement of the BJP has caused anxiety to TRS which has been expecting a hands-down victory as the presence of BJP would mean split in the pro-Telangana votes.

Meanwhile, there was also a rift between the comrades. Even as the CPI and CPI(M) have been frequently talking about unity of 11 left parties, the CPI(M) has unilaterally announced that it would field candidates in three of the seven constituencies in the by-elections.

The party has also announced snapping of ties with the TDP.

CPI which has been hoping for a tie up with the Marxist party was rather shocked at the stand of its ally. CPI state secretary Dr. Narayana has lamented that CPI (M) has taken such a decision unilaterally. The CPI was also surprised at the CPI (M)’s decision of snapping ties with the TDP as such decision was expected to be taken jointly. The party was also hurt that CPI (M) state secretary Raghavulu wrote a letter to Narayana asking support for his party candidates, without first consulting him. There would surely be multi-corner contests in the by-elections and no party might be able to sweep the polls.