HYDERABAD: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has decided to rope in ministers K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao to take control of Huzurabad, the bastion of ousted health minister Etala Rajendar.
Party's official sources said though minister Gangula Kamalakar had been assigned this task, the party leadership was not satisfied with the outcome.
Rama Rao and Harish Rao were asked to tour Huzurabad frequently after the lockdown in June to strengthen the TRS in the constituency and ensure victory for the party candidate in the event of a bypoll anytime.
Kamalakar was immediately appointed as Huzurabad party in-charge after Rajendar's dismissal from the Cabinet on May 2. Kamalakar has been holding meetings with local party leaders and cadre in Huzurabad since then. The task assigned by the party leadership to Kamalakar was to ensure that no leaders or cadre from the TRS sail with Rajendar.
Though Kamalakar could convince several party's local leaders like ZPTCs, MPTCs, sarpanches, ward members, councillors etc to remain in the TRS and made them give public statements expressing their support to the TRS and the Chief Minister, many local leaders and cadre continue to support Rajendar.
The party leadership apparently realised that Rajendar still enjoys considerable clout among local party leaders and cadre that he had developed over the past two decades and Kamalakar could not match his stature. Therefore, the party requires a strong leadership to neutralise the impact of Rajendar's exit.
With this, the Chief Minister has reportedly decided to rope in Rama Rao and Harish Rao who could match Rajendar's stature in Huzurabad and convince the entire party local leaders and cadre in the constituency to remain with the TRS. Both the ministers will frequently interact with party's local leaders and cadre besides launching development works worth several crores of rupees to garner people's support ahead of bypoll.
