Reservation of wards keeps Congress on tenterhooks

Hyderabad: The Congress leaders are on tenterhooks over the reservation of wards in the municipalities which would go to polls next month as they are unable to finalise the candidates till they the reservations are announced.

They are said to be apprehensive of the ruling party leaders taking advantage as far as reservations are concerned.

The Congress leaders say that the TRS leaders are aware of the reservations and they are a step ahead in deciding the candidates.

According to sources, the reservations to the wards would be announced on January 4, a day ahead of the issuing of notification to the municipal polls.

The Congress would have only a few days to finalise the candidates. Though several leaders are eager to contest on behalf of the Congress, but they are not sure of filing nominations due to the reservation factor.

If the reservations go against them in their respective wards, they cannot contest. The Pradesh Congress Committee has also expressed displeasure over the poll schedule.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has announced the schedule though the reservations were not finalised.

The municipal employees in the civic bodies have been collecting the data of the BCs, SCs and STs in the wards to arrive at the figures.

Based on the population of the castes in each ward, they would finalise the reservations. Congress candidates would have just three days to finalise their candidates from January 7 to 10.

They have to run against time to finalise the candidates taking the reservations into consideration.

Though the Congress has been expecting the polls in January and arrangements have been made to identify the candidates, it is unable to zero in on the leaders, who should be fielded in the polls.

Any wrong decision would lead to problems. At the same time, the leaders, who want to contest are also in a fix due to the reservations issue.

Though they have been working in their respective wards for a few months, they are not sure about the contest.

No official declaration of reservations has also become a cause of concern to the leaders who are eyeing the chairperson and mayor posts, say party leaders.

These leaders would be able to decide on the contest only after the announcement of the reservations.

On the other hand, the Congress leaders are alleging that their opponents, belonging to the ruling party, in the municipal wards have been bringing pressure on the municipal staff to announce reservations as per their convenience.

They have been alleging some of the TRS district leaders and MLAs are aware of the reservations and they have already finalised the candidates. This would give lot of advantage to them in the polls.