Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday entrusted to his Ministerial colleagues the responsibility of ensuring that party candidates were elected as chairpersons in all the Zilla Parishads in the indirect elections to be held on July 4.
He discussed with them the chances of TRS winning the elections to not only Zilla Parishads, but Mandal Parisahds and municipalities.
Sources said that Mr. Rao asked the Ministers to make all efforts to take the support of ZPTC members from other parties to ensure the victory of TRS candidates. He was particularly keen about the result in Mahabubnagar where the TRS and Congress were evenly poised though the latter had three members more. In this regard, he asked the Deputy Chief Minister, Mahmood Ali, and Excise Minister T. Padma Rao to supervise the election in Mahabubnagar.
Mr. Rao was also curious about the result in Nalgonda though the TRS was nowhere close to wresting the post as the Congress was way ahead with 30 members more than TRS. Former MLA of Congress from Devarakonda Balu Naik is a strong contender for the post which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Mr. Rao deputed Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy and Education Minister G. Jagdish Reddy to oversee the election.
Sources added that the TRS was also expecting defections from Congress in Warangal where the latter party was short of majority by two members. But, groupism within Congress had upset its chances. Similar was the situation in Ranga Reddy district where the Congress was ahead of TRS by two votes, but TRS has kept its flock together running a camp in the hope that its numbers may swell. The party has pinned hopes on seven TDP members.
In Medak, the Congress and TRS had 21 ZPTC members each, but three members of Congress and all the four of TDP had announced their support to TRS ensuring its victory. TRS’ win in Karimnagar is assured as the party has 42 members as against 14 of the Congress. With a comfortable majority in Adilabad and Nizamabad, the party stands a chance of winning in seven out of eight districts where the election is due. The election was stayed in Khammam following court order.
