Telangana Jana Samiti to contest from all Assembly, Lok Sabha seats in state in 2019

Hyderabad: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which recently launched a political party, has said that the party plans to contest from all Assembly and Lok Sabha seats during the 2019 elections. It also said the ‘Telangana Jana Samiti’ (TJS) would have no electoral alliances. “That’s the plan.. to contest all the seats, “JAC Chairman M Kodandaram, who launched TJS party on 2 April, said. [caption id=“attachment_4432615” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of JAC Chairman M Kodandaram. Facebook@KodandaramProf[/caption] Legislative Assembly polls in Telangana state would be held simultaneously with the general elections in 2019. Asked if there was enough time for the party to gear up for polls next year, he said the advantage for JAC, unlike others who enter politics, is that it has been active in social life. “We have been active as a civil society group over the last few years. In fact, we were also active during the Telangana movement. So, we have a network and we are aware of the (people’s) problems,” he told PTI. “We will not have any alliance (in 2019 elections),” he said in reply to a query. The JAC, a conglomerate of various political and social organisations, spearheaded the separate Telangana agitation. The ruling TRS, Congress and other parties were also part of it then. After the formation of Telangana (on 2 June, 2014), the JAC had continued as a civil society group, agitating on people’s issues. The committee decided to float a political party as the political leadership was allegedly not responding to different issues, he said. He cited the example of farmers sometimes having to wait for days together to sell their produce and that too for a low price. “Four years of experience we realised, as a civil society movement, we can mobilise, we can launch agitations, but we cannot realise the aspirations of the (separate Telangana) movement unless and until the political realm is responding.” “In our state, the ruling party has become autocratic…We thought lest we form a party, we cannot carry forward our task,” Kodandaram said. Earlier this month, TJAC chairman M Kodandaram had unveiled the flag of his newly-launched TJS party.