Congress, BJP Identifying Party Leaders to Contest Local Body Polls

Adilabad: Ruling Congress and opposition BJP in erstwhile Adilabad district have started the exercise of identifying second-rung party leaders for contesting the ensuing elections to local bodies.

Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar of BJP and Congress Adilabad assembly constituency in-charge Kandi Srinivas Reddy are holding meetings with party cadres in this regard.

It is learnt that at his meeting held in Bela mandal recently, Srinivas Reddy told his supporters that the party will extend them all possible help, including financial assistance.

Many senior leaders of Congress, BJP and BRS are aspiring for their party tickets to contest for the posts of sarpanch, MPTC and ZPTC in the ensuing local body elections. Some have already started their offline and online campaigns.

Ticket aspirants are using social media to send a message to the people of his or her area that he or she will be in the fray for the posts in the local body elections.

News is that MLAs and party in-charges are of the opinion that it is too early to announce the names of party leaders to be fielded in elections for local bodies. They say this will lead to differences within the party leaders and ticket aspirants. Leaders and cadres will get divided into groups much before the elections.

MLA Payal Shankar is trying to enrol strong leaders of opponent parties into the BJP and field them as sarpanch and ZPTC candidates in the local body elections in Bela, Jainad and Adilabad Rural mandals. Some of the senior BJP leaders are disappointed with the MLA's move. They want that senior leaders, who have served the party for long years, be given the party tickets.