Hyderabad: The forthcoming municipal elections are less strenuous for Congress state president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and BJP state president K. Laxman, and a testing time for TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao. The main fight in these elections will be between the TRS, Congress and BJP. In some areas, the TRS’s main rival is the Congress and in others the BJP. For the Congress and BJP, the main opponent is the TRS.
Winning or losing in the municipal elections will make no difference personally to Mr Reddy or Dr Laxman, as both have completed their full term as state unit presidents, and their successors will be named by their respective parties after the elections. But for Mr Rama Rao, being TRS working president and municipal administration minister — and even the next Chief Minister as speculation in the party has it — the polls will be more crucial.
Across the state, 10 municipal corporations and 120 municipalities are going in for elections. In 20 of them, the the TRS is likely to face a close fight with the Congress and the BJP, according to the TRS’s calculations.
On the outskirts of Hyderabad in the municipalities of Maheswaram, Medchal, Malkajgiri, apart from Adilabad, and in the Nizamabad and Karimnagar municipal corporations, the TRS will have to work hard to win, said a senior party leader.In recent times, the state government has upgraded major gram panchayats to municipalities. One year later, the government has not been able to implement major poll promises such as unemployment allowance for educated unemployed youth, waiving of crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh and so on.
The government was not in a position to give crop loans under the Rythu Bharosa scheme to all farmers in the Rabi season. TRS leaders fear this may lead to the mood turning against the party.
In addition to this, in several Assembly constituencies, party leaders, MPs and MLAs do not see eye to eye. Should one group or faction get a ticket, there is always the danger of the other group turning rebel. The TRS high command is concentrating on ensuring as little rebellion as possible.
