Even as the Congress party is busy stitching up a mega pre-poll pact with the TDP, the CPI and other like-minded parties to trounce the TRS in the coming Assembly elections, the process of sharing 10 seats in the undivided Khammam district between prospective allies may turn out to be complex.
At a time when the top-rung State leaders of the Congress, TDP and the CPI are engaged in hectic consultations to forge an anti-TRS pre-poll alliance, demands from the followers of the ticket aspirants of the prospective allies staking claim over Khammam, Kothagudem and other high-profile seats have gained pitch. Some senior Congress leaders of the district have reportedly apprised the party leadership of the “bitter experiences” of the pre-poll alliances in 2014 general elections, Congress party sources said. They insisted that the party should contest from majority of the seats, including the prestigious Khammam and Kothagudem seats, citing the aspirations of the party cadres and party’s traditional vote bank.
The senior leaders have reportedly sought urgent intervention of the party high command to fill up the vacant post of the District Congress Committee (DCC) president and expeditiously announce party candidates for the coming polls.
They reportedly have impressed upon the top-notch leaders of the party tasked with finalising the electoral alliances to go by the aspirations of the party cadres and ensure a united fight to defeat the TRS, which has already announced its candidates for all the 10 seats—five each in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts, the party sources added.
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) is firming up a prudent election strategy to wrest all the 10 seats, including the sitting Madhira seat at the ensuing hustings, a senior party leader based in Kothagudem said. The party would get a lion’s share of seats in the imminent pre-poll alliance with like-minded parties, he asserted.
The names of some prominent Congress leaders, including a former Union Minister, an MLC and a granite baron, are making rounds among the Congress circles as probable party candidates for Khammam seat.
On the other hand, the TDP district leaders have been staking claim to Khammam, Kothagudem and a few other seats, apart from Sattupalli seat, represented by S. Venkataveeraiah of the party in the dissolved State Assembly.
The CPI district leaders have reportedly expressed their resolve to contest from a couple of seats, including the Kothagudem and Wyra seats, which the party had won in 2009 Assembly elections.
