Telangana: Second rung leaders gear up for local polls

In villages, enthusiastic leaders are engaging with residents to contest in gram panchayat and mandal or zilla parishad elections. Similarly, second-rung leaders of the ruling Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) are hoping to secure tickets to contest in the Nizamabad Municipal Corporation and municipal towns of Bodhan, Kamareddy, Armoor, Bheemgal, Banswada, and Yellareddy.

From each municipal ward and division, at least half a dozen leaders are vying for the opportunity to run as municipal councillors and corporators. Based on the reservation categories of the municipal divisions or wards, these leaders are making arrangements for their campaigns. Prominent figures are eyeing two or more divisions and wards, strategizing their contests based on the availability of reserved seats. Leaders from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are prepared to contest in any municipal town.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Balwanth Rao, a BRS leader from Kamareddy municipality, expressed his readiness to contest in the municipal elections. "The party high command will finalise suitable candidates for the municipal elections," he said. "Contesting in municipal elections involves significant financial commitments, and one needs to spend lakhs of rupees to run," he opined. "Different groups of people in colonies are also expecting support from the municipal ticket aspirants," he added.

On the other hand, Congress and BJP leaders have tentatively finalized their aspirants for the local body elections. Respective MLAs and Assembly constituency in-charges will play key roles in the selection of candidates. Senior Congress MLA P. Sudarshan Reddy, advisor to the state government Mohammad Ali Shabbir, Zaheerabad MP Suresh Kumar Shetkar, Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri, and other Congress and BJP MLAs are expected to finalize the candidates for the municipal elections, party sources said.