Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao may be confident of forming the first government in Telangana, but the party’s position in the state capital does not look very bright.
Party workers in several Assembly constituencies in Greater Hyderabad are unhappy that the TRS leadership gave tickets to last-minute defectors from other parties ignoring local party leaders who built the base of the party against all odds.
Of the 24 candidates the TRS fielded in an equal number of Assembly segments in the city, as many as 11 candidates are defectors or new faces and had joined TRS less than a month before the nomination process began.
“What’s more, some of them joined TRS just 10 days before the last day of nominations. How good is the strategy to bank on defectors? TRS has won only one seat in the city in the last 10 years. T. Padma Rao won Secunderabad Assembly segment in 2004 polls, after that, TRS has not won even a corporator’s seat in the city. Giving tickets to last-minute defectors has sent a wrong message among the voters that TRS does not have winnable candidates and thus tickets were given to defectors,” a TRS leader said.
However, the party leadership is confident that the Sakala Janula Samme and the Million March agitations taken up in Hyderabad have strengthened the party.
“The employees’ unions in GHMC, APSRTC city region, Water Board and government printing press are all T unions that won in the last three years, which shows a growing support for TRS among locals in the city. Defectors are there in all parties. It is common during elections to field defectors to beat the opponents at their own game,” said G. Murali Goud, TRS candidate from Jubilee Hills. TRS strongman in the city, T. Padma Rao contesting from Secunderabad, said “We are confident of winning over 10 seats in the city and stand a fair chance of upsetting the favourites in another 10 constituencies”.
