MLC polls: Parties strategise

Hyderabad: Top leaders of the TRS, Congress and TD on Wednesday were busy drawing up strategies on how to ensure that their parties benefit the most in the MLC polls from the local body constituencies.

The intra-party confabulations coincided with the process of filing of nominations for the 12 MLC seats that began on Wednesday.

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao chaired a meeting with ministers at his camp office and discussed the situation in the nine districts.

It was felt that in view of the Congress having significant strength in both Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts, the TRS should start a dialogue with Congress leaders to share a seat each, thus avoiding polls, while continuing efforts to get more voters to the TRS and bag two seats in each district.

However, the lone MLC seat from Nalgonda may be a hurdle in these plans, since Mr Chandrasekhar Rao told the TRS leaders that there cannot be any compromise on the seat, despite Congress leaders insisting on it.

In a related development, TD Central Committee president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was in the city to attend a wedding ceremony in Secunderabad, held talks with TS TD leaders for an hour. Mr Naidu told them to explore the possibility of arriving at an understanding with the Congress in Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar districts so that the two parties can bag at least one seat each.

Mahbubnagar leaders proposed former MLA Kottakota Dayakar Reddy as the TD candidate from there. They said that if the Congress supports TD in the district, the TD could reciprocate by supporting the Congress in Ranga Reddy.

Meanwhile, the Congress State-Level Coordination Panel will meet at the Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

Congress leader Shabbir Ali told newsmen that the party high command has already told them to reach a “local level understanding” with other parties.