Hyderabad: With the Congress and Telugu Desam making it clear on Monday that they will contest the MLC elections for the 12 seats on their own and not have any truck with each other or with the ruling TRS, the situation vis-à-vis the MLC polls has turned quite interesting.
While the TRS suspects that the Congress and TD will be involved in some underhand dealings, the two parties are on guard against any poaching by the ruling party. Congress announced former MP Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy as its candidate from Nalgonda to take on TRS nominee Tera Chinnapa Reddy.
Mr Rajagopal Reddy has been enlisting support from a majority of ZPTCs and MPTCs since over a year now and had already spent a ‘significant’ amount to keep them happy. Similarly Mr Chinnapa Reddy, with the support of minister for power G. Jagdeeshwar Reddy has claimed to have got a “majority of the members’ in his corner and has spent quite a sizeable sum.
As for Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy where two MLC seats are up for grabs, the Congress has decided to contest one seat each, based on its strength, while the TRS will field candidates for all the four seats.
Meanwhile, the Congress State-Level Coordination Committee has decided not to support TD nominees but leave the decision to the local party units. However, it has decided to support Puvvada Nageswar Rao in Khammam.
Though TD leaders tried to reach an “adjustment” with the Congress, it spurned the proposal. This led to TD leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao declaring that the party will have no truck with the Congress in any of the polls and TD will contest all the seats.
Reacting to the development, irrigation minister T. Harish Rao said, “It’s only for public consumption.”
In a related development, Congress named Nizamabad DCC chief K. Venkatarami Reddy as its candidate for Nizamabad seat while the TRS named R. Bhupathi Reddy.
TRs mind games will fail, says Shabbir Ali
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Shabbir Ali on Monday said that the best efforts of the TRS to entice Congress leaders to switch over to the ruling party would be in vain as they are committed to the party and would not succumb to the mind games being played by the TRS.
Even the several inducements being offered by the TRS won’t work, he told reporters after a meeting with party MLCs and City Congress president Danam Nagender at his residence on Monday morning.
Mr Shabbir Ali’s statement came amidst fresh speculations that Mr Nagender would join the TRS later in the day in the presence of its chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
However, Mr Nagender said, “I was humiliated by my own party leaders about shrinking of my authority as far as GHMC polls are concerned. However, it is now clear that I will decide everything regarding the polls. I will not leave the Congress.”
M. Rangareddy, K. Santosh Kumar and Farooq Hussain, the three Congress MLCs who were rumoured to be joining the TRS, attended the meeting.
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