Telangana Rashtra Samiti set to sweep civic polls

Hyderabad: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) supremo and Chief Minister, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has set ground to sweep all the municipalities and the corporations in the urban local bodies (ULB) elections.

With a clear directive from the party boss, all MLAs, ministers and party general secretaries have started gearing up for the local body elections on a war-footing. The ruling party has constituted preparatory committees to fight the elections, which will be set into motion immediately after the High Court’s nod for the polls.

The TRS working president, Mr K.T. Rama Rao, on Wednesday, while conducting a review meeting with party general secretaries discussed the preparations and readiness in regards to municipal polls besides taking reports on the ongoing membership drive, is said to told them that the Chief Minister has finalised the strategy to fly the pink flag high in the ULB polls.

Mr Rama Rao has reportedly asked the general secretaries to gear up the party cadres to campaign and take to people the welfare and development acti-vities of the state government right up to the booth level in each of the ULBs, which would be going for the polls very soon.

Sources in the party revealed that Mr Rama Rao had told them that the high ratings of approval and sustained confidence of people across the state on the leadership of the Chief Minister has boosted even further with the completion of the Kaleshwaram project in record time. The successful distribution of enhanced pensions under the Asara scheme, another poll promise, has also skyrocketed the TRS image, he said.

Exuding confidence of sweeping all the ULBs, Mr Rama Rao asked party leaders to take the message of the Chief Minister not to believe the malicious propaganda of the BJP of becoming stronger in Telangana or the Congress party’s baseless allegations of corruption in irrigation projects, but instead, strongly counter it. Sources pointed out that Mr Rao also said that the Chief Minister has own counter strategy to deal with both the BJP and the Congress, and party leaders should instead concentrate on the upcoming ULB polls.

After the review meeting with Mr Rao, party general secretary Mr Palla Rajeshwar Reddy told press reporters that the TRS was prepared to face municipal polls in 141 ULBs in the state, whenever the State Election Com-mission announces them.

Mr Reddy said to prepare party cadres for the ULB elections, it was decided to constitute preparatory committees for each of the Lok Sabha constituency in the state, headed by a general secretary, and one committee for a cluster of three to four municipalities, headed by a party secretary.

In view of ongoing legal cases, the government and the poll panel are both waiting for a verdict on the cases from the High Court.