The Congress continued its trend of winning in the elections to cooperative bodies in the State as it wrested primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS) in 14 of the 22 districts for which results were available till the evening on Friday.
The election of presidents was postponed due to lack of quorum at several places amidst reports that the new members were kidnapped or intimidated by aspirants for president’s post.
The managing committees of PACS which were elected on Thursday constituted the electoral college for the election of their presidents on Friday. The election of the presidents assumed significance because they will elect the directors of District Cooperative Central Banks on February 18 and the directors will in turn elect the chairmen of DCCBs the next day. The DCCB presidents will elect the chairman of apex bank – AP State Cooperative Central Bank – on February 25.
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The Congress candidates were elected presidents in most of the PACS in Adilabad, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, Kurnool, Karimnagar, Nalgonda, Warangal, Nizamabad, Mahbubnagar and Medak districts.
The Telugu Desam won the majority in West Godavari, Guntur, Ranga Reddy and Khammam while the YSR Congress was leading in Anantapur and Kadapa. By coincidence, the Congress and TDP were tied in Visakhapatnam and Krishna districts. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti won only 1 out of 43 PACS in Mahbubnagar while it was a poor third in Nizamabad, Nalgonda and Warangal winning 8, 3 and 3 societies respectively.
The YSR Congress put up an impressive show in Mahbubnagar winning eight societies, but the BJP, a strong advocate of separate Telangana, won only eight in all in Karimnagar, Warangal, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Mahbubnagar. It did not even open the account in Medak.
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The election at Navipet PACS in Nizamabad was preceded by a complaint to police that the chairman candidate of Congress kidnapped two committee members to ensure his victory. Tension also escalated at Siddhantam in West Godavari after YSR Congress supporters complained about the intervention of Social Welfare Minister Pithani Satyanarayana fearing the defeat of Congress candidate.