Congress confident of success in local body polls

Hyderabad: Buoyed by the positive response to its ‘Janahita Padayatra’, the PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) hopes to translate the support into votes in the upcoming local body polls.

While the party is conducting a survey for the Jubilee Hills by-elections, it is yet to undertake any such survey for the local body polls, citing “good feedback” from its recent campaigns. The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting, likely to be held this Sunday, will chalk out a plan of action on how to mobilise voters.

The Congress party, which claimed a massive response to the first phase of the ‘Janahita Padayatra’, is overwhelmed by the support it received from locals. The party leadership now believes that welfare measures and schemes, including the latest ‘SannaBiyyam’ scheme, have created a positive impact among the masses, particularly in the districts.

Another driving force is the issue of 42 per cent BC reservation in the state, where BCs representing different castes dominate. The party is pursuing the matter at a national level. If the Centre fails to approve the bills, the next PAC meeting will explore legal and political options at its disposal, in light of the High Court’s directive for the completion of the election process by September 30. “We are very much confident of winning maximum seats this time. The PCC president’s assertions that a BC should be the next Chief Minister reflect the impact of the issue on Telangana’s politics. One likely option remains the implementation of the quota within the organisation by providing 42 per cent of seats to BCs,” said party sources.

In the second phase of the ‘padayatra’, which will begin on August 24, PCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud has urged party ranks to ensure large-scale public participation. He stressed the need to widely publicise the development and welfare programmes being implemented by the Congress government. “You might have seen the impact of the recent padayatra.

We have got good feedback, particularly in light of the government’s push for reservations. There was no need to undertake a survey,” said the PCC president during a recent media interaction.