Young Congress netas keen to enter civic poll arena in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: As the High Court has cleared the decks for holding the municipal elections, the youngsters in the Congress are raring to enter the contest to clinch the councillor and chairperson posts of the municipalities.

They have been expecting the announcement of the schedule for the municipal polls in this week and making arrangements accordingly. Already, several have been approaching the State, district and constituency level leaders for the tickets.

The Pradesh Congress Committee is expected to meet by end of this month to finalise the strategy for the municipal polls. The top leaders of the PCC may meet after the announcement of by-poll results to the Huzurnagar Assembly constituency.

Though the party made some preparation for the municipal polls two months ago, the inquiry of the court into the petitions being filed on the municipal elections have held it back from selecting the candidates for the councilor posts.

The PCC has appointed a committee to oversee the municipal elections. The committee met several times and prepared the plans for the polls. The PCC announced that it would give 50 per cent of the tickets to the BCs and the minorities.

District and town Congress Committee meetings have been held and the responsibility of selecting the candidates has been given to the town and constituency level leaders. As the court has cleared the cases on the municipal polls, the State Election Commission (SEC) is likely to announce the schedule any time. The Congress leaders are expecting that the municipal polls may be held in November.

Party's town level leaders, particularly the youngsters are eager to enter the municipal polls to make a career in the politics. They have been hoping that the municipal polls would provide them a chance to enter into active politics.

Congress leaders said that the party candidates have fair chances of winning many of the municipalities due to the existing political situation in the State. They are of the view that since there were no schemes like Rythu Bandhu in the urban areas, they have a level playing field in the municipalities.

They said that since the urban areas contain educated and unemployed youth in big numbers, the party could cash in the anti-establishment votes. The apathy of the unemployed and the educated has been exhibited during the polls to the Legislative Council.

The ongoing strike of the RTC employees and agitations people from several sectors would help the Congress to win majority of the municipalities, the leaders said. Several youngsters who are followers of the Congress leaders at State, district and constituency level, have been showing enthusiasm to enter the polls and have been requesting their leaders to give them a chance.