Congress, BJP, BRS jump into poll mode

Hyderabad: Once again, the three main political parties in the state -- Congress, BRS and BJP -- are in poll mode. With speculations that the Election Commission will issue the notification for MLC polls under Teachers’ and Graduates quota in February, they are working out strategies to brace the elections.

During the recent visit of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to Delhi and the visit of BJP MPs and MLAs on Wednesday, the respective party high commands have told them to galvanise the party rank and file and get ready for the MLC polls. They have been told to connect with the voters and focus on micromanagement of the polls. All the three parties have started scouting for the winning horses.

The BRS wants to regain its lost ground and is searching for a potential candidate to give tough fight to the two rival parties which held sway in the Graduates constituency of Karimnagar - Adilabad - Nizamabad - Medak districts.

While the ruling Congress holds over 20 Assembly seats in the constituency that is spread across the four North Telangana districts, the BJP too has significant influence, with four Lok Sabha members and seven MLAs in the four districts. On the other hand, the Opposition BRS too enjoys considerable strength with 14 MLAs and strong second-rung leaders across the four districts.

TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud and Congress party state in-charge Deepa Das Munshi held a meeting with the Congress leaders of the four districts and decided to finalise the candidate for the Graduates’ constituency this week. Sitting MLC T Jeevan Reddy is said to be keen on contesting the election for the second time from the same constituency.

Sources indicate that the party is also inclined to give a second chance to Jeevan Reddy and is waiting for clearance from the AICC leaders. A resolution to support Jeevan Reddy will be sent to the party high command for final approval. A meeting of party MLAs, MPs and local body representatives will be held to finalise an action plan soon.

The BJP leadership is also gearing up to mobilise the cadre to seek the support of the graduates to win the seat. Local BJP leaders and MPs of Karimnagar, Medak and Adilabad have started holding meetings with the newly-enrolled graduate voters in their respective Lok Sabha constituencies. It wants to prove that they are strong in North Telangana districts.

Though technically elections will not be held on party symbols, these elections have become a matter of prestige for all three parties. BJP senior leaders G Ramakrishna Reddy, P Sugunakar Rao and Rani Rudramadevi are among those who are strongly lobbying for the party ticket.

The Opposition BRS also wanted to retain its hold in the four districts by fielding a strong candidate in the elections.

The two MLCs from Teachers’ constituencies K Raghotham Reddy (Karimnagar) and A Narsireddy (Nalgonda) are retiring in March. Hence the three parties are also working hard to field their representatives from the Teachers’ unions to increase their tally in the Legislative Council.