Telangana Jana Samithi out to enter GHMC poll fray, plans to field 20 or 30 candidates

Hyderabad: Telangana Jana Samithi will be in fray in more than 20 wards in the upcoming GHMC elections. And, 15 of these wards fall in core Hyderabad city. According to TJS president Prof Kodandaram, they are also exploring fielding some candidates in GHMC divisions that fall in Ranga Reddy and Medchal districts also.

A clear picture of how many wards the party would contest out of the total 150 wards would be known in the coming weeks, he said. Sources in the party stated that they are looking at contesting in one-fifth of the seats in the civic body elections in the State capital. On the other hand, chances of opposition parties joining hands to wage a joint fight against TRS are almost ruled out. Kodandaram said that as things stand at present every party will be fighting on its own and so is the case with TJS. However, TJS candidates will have their task cut out in view of the fresh decision of the State Election Commission to cancel the election symbol to six registered political parties, including Telangana Jana Samithi's matchbox symbol.

The party has failed to contest 10 per cent of total seats in elections to 120-odd municipalities and municipal corporations held early this year. The party contested in various municipalities including Tandur, Vikarabad, Vikarabad, Mahabubabad, Narsampet, Jawaharnagar, Peerzadiguda, Bandlaguda but only in selected wards, a strategy that led to the present situation where it is at the risk of going to elections with an unknown symbol.

Giving his view on this issue, Kodandaram said that the idea was to focus and contest in only divisions where the party has local cadre and presence and in some places, TJS candidates opted out of political understanding with opposition at the local level. Hence, TJS was not able to contest in 10 per cent of seats.

The TJS chief explained that his party would definitely field candidates in 10 per cent of total seats in GHMC elections, which would come to 15 wards. He further added that they would make an appeal to the State Election Commission on this issue and hopefully get a positive response to retain the symbol.