Hyderabad: If the TRS wins the Huzurnagar byelection as predicted by the exit polls, it will have an impact on several issues, including the RTC strike. Politically, it will give a boost to the battered morale of the TRS cadres after the setback in the Lok Sabha elections and will help in the ensuing municipal elections.
In spite of the RTC strike, supported by opposition parties, unions of government employees, workers and teachers and several other organisations, if the TRS candidate wins in Huzurnagar, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will take a firmer stand against it.
A senior TRS leader said, “If we win in Huzurnagar, the opposition parties will have no voice and RTC unions also may re-think their strike.” He said that Mr Rao was of the view that if he succumbed to the pressure mounted by the RTC unions, others would follow on the same path and it would become a headache to the government.
The High Court has given time to the TSRTC till October 28 and the Huzurnagar byelection result will come on October 24. TRS sources said Mr Rao would not take any decision on the RTC strike till then.
After the Lok Sabha elections, when the TRS fell way short of its target, opposition parties had claimed that the TRS government had lost the people’s support about five months after winning the Assembly elections. Mr Rao wants to give a befitting reply to the opposition parties by winning the byelection and to show that the people are with the TRS.
A senior TRS leader who participated in the Huzurnagar campaign asked, “The people are getting government schemes like pension and investment subsidy. Why would they vote against the government?” On the RTC strike, he said rural people are dependent on local transport like autorickshaws and vans and the strike has had no effect on them.
Even if the Congress wins in Huzurnagar, Mr Rao will not yield to the demands of the RTC unions. After Huzurnagar, Mr Rao may take some bold decisions on revenue issues and others. Employees will not go against the government after the Huzurnagar byelection result, once the TRS wins, said a senior state government employee.
