Bypolls: DS for Delhi to present feedback

DEVISING STRATEGY: APCC president D. Srinivas holding a meeting with leaders of Telangana region on the byelection issue at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday.
HYDERABAD: Armed with the ‘overwhelming' demand that the party should contest the byelections for the 12 Assembly seats in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D. Srinivas is leaving for New Delhi on Monday to apprise the Central leadership about the mood in the organisation.
He is said to have prepared a detailed report on the ground realities and also the party's readiness to face the poll challenge after an elaborate interaction with the Ministers, elected representatives and the district-level leaders of the 12 constituencies during the week.
Mr. Srinivas will meet All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretaries M. Veerappa Moily and Ahmed Patel to give the feedback.
If needed, he may stay back in Delhi to meet party president Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Congress sources said. On Sunday, the APCC chief held wide-ranging discussions with leaders from Nizamabad, Medak and Warangal districts on the bypolls. Ministers J. Geeta Reddy, C. Damodar Rajanarasimha, V. Sunitha Laxma Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, P.Sudarshan Reddy and D. Sridhar Babu, besides MPs and MLAs, attended the meeting at Gandhi Bhavan.
Later, a majority of the party leaders laid stress on contesting the elections.
They reasoned that the party could prove its commitment to Telangana by joining the fray.
They dismissed the ‘threats' held out by the Joint Action Committee of political parties and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and felt that it was better to ignore the demand by some seniors not to contest.
‘Unity mantra'
Mr. Srinivas asked the leaders to follow the ‘unity mantra' and show voters that there were no differences among them.
All ticket aspirants were asked to tour the constituencies in a bus and impress the voters in the region.
He later told reporters that the discussions whether the party would contest the by-elections or not only figured in the media.
APCC sources stated that although the high command was firm about the party contesting the polls, it wanted a feedback on the mood of the cadre.
“The meeting with leaders of 12 constituencies has certainly endorsed the opinion of the high command,” a senior APCC functionary told The Hindu.
A lot of background exercise had been done since April, when apolitical persons were engaged by the party to study the ground reality.
The ‘prajapatham' and ‘rythu sadassu' programmes were used to gauge the people's mood.

EC to announce bypoll schedule soon

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission is likely to announce the byelection schedule for the 12 Assembly constituencies in Telangana region of the State “shortly” and the date for publication of revised list of electoral rolls in the State has been advanced to June 25 from the first week of July.
Sources said the EC did not want to wait till the last minute though the vacancies could be filled before August 14. The 12 MLAs, 10 from TRS and one each from the TDP and BJP had quit their posts during the height of the pro-Telangana stir protesting the “unfair terms of reference (ToR)” announced for the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee which has been asked to go in to the demands for “united Andhra Pradesh” and “separate Telangana.” The date would be worked out considering all factors including holidays, festivals, availability of security personnel and other events.
TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has already declared that the result of the byelection would be the report of Telangana people to the Justice Srikrishna Committee. It was the responsibility of the region's people to ensure a huge win for the candidates, he said.
As the TRS has openly warned that it would not allow the candidature of persons whose parties had opposed “separate Telangana” and in view of violence witnessed during the pro-Telangana protests the commission wanted to ensure that absolute peace prevailed during the poll and the voters exercised their franchise in a free and fearless manner and the poll campaign carried out in a democratic atmosphere, sources said.

KCR apprehensive over Telangana taking a backseat after byelections

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has expressed apprehensions that rival parties, mainly Congress, might impress their leadership with claims that the Telangana slogan has died down, after winning the coming byelections over candidates who resigned their membership of Assembly.
Addressing a meeting to mark the admission of some political activists from Serilingampally into TRS, Mr. Rao said here on Sunday that all those who wanted to contest the elections without making any sacrifice for separate Telangana lacked moral values. Why should they contest against leaders who have resigned?, he asked.
Mr. Rao also criticised Telugu Desam Party as a treacherous party which deserved to be shown the door. The TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu got his party MLAs from coastal districts resign after the Centre announced on December 9 that it was initiating the process of forming Telangana. He advised leaders from Telangana not to remain with TDP.
Referring to the problems of locals in buying land in Hyderabad, Mr. Rao said that land had become scarce after people from coastal districts formed housing cooperative societies and purchased huge chunks. The locals were displaced by outsiders. The rulers from coastal districts did not spare any section of people in Telangana from exploitation.

Telangana Congress leaders gun for Ponnala

UNDER FIRE:Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah seen at Gandhi Bhavan where he came to attend a meeting on Sunday.
HYDERABAD: Alleging large-scale ‘irregularities' in the irrigation projects in Telangana, senior Congress leaders from the region on Sunday demanded Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah to resign owning moral responsibility.
Accusing the government of neglecting the projects, the seniors at a meeting at the residence of former Minister Palvai Goverdhan Reddy said the Minister and Special Chief Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office C.V.S.K. Sarma owed an explanation.
The meeting attended by MPs -- Gutta Sukhender Reddy, P. Balram Naik and Manda Jagannath -- former PCC chief P. Narsa Reddy and MLCs -- K. Yadava Reddy, S. Indrasain Reddy and Jagadeeshwar Reddy -- and former MLC B. Kamalakar Rao lamented that there was ‘discrimination' in the budget allocation for the projects.
Design faulted
Faulting the Polavaram project design, they reiterated the demand to change the plan and instead of constructing an earthen dam, wanted barrages to be built across the Godavari. They decided to meet several Central leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to pursue the matter.
Mr. Goverdhan Reddy later told presspersons that Mr. Lakshmaiah should be ‘solely held responsible' for the status of the projects. He demanded changes in the Polavaram project to prevent submergence of 365 villages. The project would submerge the temple town of Bhadrachalam.
Nexus alleged
Nalgonda MP Sukhender Reddy alleged that ‘nexus' between contractors and officials ensured in escalated estimates of the projects to ‘defraud' the government. He charged that the contractors, owing allegiance to the Congress and other parties, had ‘looted' the government.
Charges refuted
Reacting to the demand for his resignation, Mr. Lakshmaiah told reporters that the allegations were ‘false'. “When there is no truth in the charges, where is the question of my resignation,” he quipped when approached by media at Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday.
He said the government was ‘transparent' in implementing the projects and that there was no truth the projects were kept on the backburner. He agreed to put all facts pertaining to the Polavaram project before the leaders to clarify their doubts

137 GHMC ward panels filled amid commotion

Centre of attention:Marshals taking away Champapet Telugu Desam Party Corporator S. Ramana Reddy for trying to stall ward committee election on Thursday.
HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) managed to get 137 of the 150 ward committees elected amid heckling and charges of “politicising” the election at the special meeting on Thursday.
Thirteen ward committees remained unfilled as the required number of eligible women candidates to fulfil the 50 per cent quota in each panel did not file nominations. These are to be filled within a month by calling for fresh applications from women only since general category got nominations. Each panel had seven to 10 members.
With formation of these panels, a major step towards decentralising the administration to the ward level was taken as the government has already announced that 20 per cent annual budget will be allotted to them. The importance of such panels can be judged by the fact that all political parties vied with each other to fill them with their own nominees.
Ministers, MPs and even MLAs along with corporators jostled with one another to get their own nominees in. Such was the intense competition that the special meeting was postponed last month when the ruling Congress failed to reach a consensus among its own members.
As per rules, the ward committee headed by the respective corporator has to be filled with electors representing the civil society like president/secretary of registered residents' welfare associations, member of tax payers association, office-bearer of slum or senior member of a self-help group, member of a NGO, chamber of commerce, medical council or any prominent citizen.
In the hectic parleys that went on till late into Wednesday night, it was decided by Mayor B. Kartika Reddy that the main opposition, Telugu Desam will be given three slots in the wards they represent while its partner Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) had a field day save for allowing one or two Congress chosen members into panels represented by its corporators.
Apparently, last minute changes were made and this did not go well with the TD as led by its floor leader S. Srinivas Reddy, made vain bids to disrupt the proceedings many a time. At one point the Mayor asked marshals to remove Champapet corporator S. Ramana Reddy as he stood on her podium, tore some papers and flung those shouting slogans. He thus earned the dubious distinction of being the first corporator to be lifted out.
Even while Congress floor leader K. Venkatesh (Golnaka) began to read out names as proposer and being seconded by S. Harivardhan Reddy (Habsiguda), TD's Mr. Srinivas Reddy and his colleagues surrounded the Mayor alleging “politicisation” of the poll and demanding “categorywise proposals”. A resolute Mrs. Reddy refused to cower and conducted the poll and completed it within four hours.