Joinings from other parties into the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is likely to spiral up with party working president K.T. Rama Rao all set to tour the districts to strengthen the party in view of the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.
Mr. Rama Rao is likely to start the districts tour from the first week of February and will lay foundation stone for the party district offices, and the MLAs and the local leaders want to grab his attention bringing the newly elected sarpanches and ward members into the party officially. Though local elections are not fought on party symbols the elected members’ party affiliations are well known in the villages.
A newly-elected sarpanch of a village in Yadadri district said that the local TRS leaders are making all out efforts to lure him into the party though ideologically he is neither with TRS nor with Congress. Apparently, the leaders have been asked by the concerned MLA to identify such sarpanches as they are easy catch and can be invited into the party promising better funds for the village development.
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MLAs at forefront
The MLAs are personally monitoring the entire exercise as they want to take the credit, which they feel will give them an advantage with Mr. Rama Rao who will obviously create his own team within the party. Those aspiring for Ministry are also very active with the hope that these joinings will strengthen their candidature for a seat in the cabinet if the combinations of caste, district, lead in the Assembly segment work their way.
Their entry is being encouraged solely with the intention of creating a strong base for Parliament elections. Though TRS has bagged 88 seats in the recent Assembly polls, KTR is not willing to accept anything less than 16 Lok Sabha seats out of the 17 leaving Hyderabad constituency to its friendly party AIMIM. “This will be a challenge to him as he knows that Parliament elections will be a different ball game with diverse issues coming into play and the enthusiasm has to be kept alive,” a senior leader agreed.
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After assuming charge as the working president, KTR focussed on constructing party offices in all districts and in his first visit to districts itself he made his intentions clear. In some districts the land has been identified and the process of transferring it to the party has begun. “The working president feels party offices should be modern with best of amenities and technology that will connect with the cadre easily,” a senior leader from Warangal said.