Keen on putting up a credible showing in the byelections in Telangana, the Congress has started the exercise of trying to sort out differences among aspirants for the party ticket so that a united effort could be made while taking on the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).
Two days after the APCC president D. Srinivas convened a meeting of aspirants and elected representatives of Adilabad and Karimnagar district giving enough indications that the ruling party was ready to enter the fray, the leadership is now grappling with the problem of shortlisting the candidates.
There is a rush for the Congress tickets. Aspirants made a beeline to Gandhi Bhavan, APCC headquarters, forcing the party chief to direct them to concentrate on their constituencies instead of making the rounds of the leaders' houses. Byelections are due in August in Sirpur, Mancherial, Chennur, Warangal West, Yellareddy, Nizamabad Urban, Siddipet, Huzurabad, Dharmapuri, Korutla, Sircilla and Vemulawada constituencies.
APCC leaders claimed their preliminary feedback indicated that Congress could wrest a few seats if there were triangular fights among the Congress, TRS and the TDP. This is borne from the anxiety among certain TRS leaders over the Congress decision to enter the fray. Sources said some former TRS legislators spoke to the Congress leaders questioning them about the need to contest the polls.
Mr. Srinivas himself is quite serious about his plans to contest from Nizamabad Urban seat and has held consultations with his supporters in the last two weeks.
Congress leaders said the only option left for TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao was to mend fences with their central leadership by extending unconditional support to the UPA. “By doing so, he may get a positive signal on the statehood issue,” a reliable source maintained.
