Young politicos in demand in Telangana

The TRS, which is now two decades old, realising that the next elections will not be a cake walk, seems to have decided to offload the senior leaders and opt for a young brigade by the time it goes in for next elections. The very fact that the party supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao has been fielding youngsters during by polls makes his intentions clear.

KCR knows well that carrying baggage in the next elections could lead to serious anti-incumbency problem and he does not want to repeat the mistakes committed by Congress party and TDP.

The TDP when it was launched had a young team of leaders including KCR but as it failed to encourage youth, has been facing serious problems and is almost decimated.

The TRS too is now two decades old is also facing similar situation. While majority of the voters are in the age group of 40s, the party leaders are in the age group of 60's. Moreover, as the party has been in power since 2014, there is large scale resentment among the people against the local leaders despite the party leadership introducing several welfare measures. Hence, the party leadership seems to have decided to replace majority of the sitting legislators. That is why KCR fielded Nomula Bhagath as party candidate in Nagarjuna Sagar by polls, nominated Kaushik Reddy who migrated from Congress to Legislative Council under Governor's quota and announced the name of TRS youth wing leader Gellu Srinivas Yadav as the party candidate for Huzurabad assembly by polls to take on former minister Eatala Rajender.

KCR seems to be in a mood to see that majority of the candidates for the next assembly elections would be in the bracket of 30 to 45. Whether mere change of candidates from old to young will really help the pink party to come back to power or not would of course depend on many other factors including convincing the seniors to see that they do not work against the official candidate.

A lot would also depend on how strong other political parties like BJP or Congress would emerge by that time. With Prashant Kishor likely to join Congress anytime, there is every possibility that the party would try to revive its sagging image at the national level.

At the state level, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy who is capable of going aggressive is also trying to revitalise the youth wings of the party. He too is likely to give greater importance to the young brigade this time and if the AICC supports him, there could be more number of young contestants.

The party has seen how people had rejected the septuagenarian leaders like Jana Reddy in the recent Nagarjuna Sagar bypolls. Another strategy KCR is adopting is that while encouraging the youth, he would ensure that the control of the party remains with the family.

KTR is in full control of the party affairs as working president and MLC Kavitha has been holding sway over different frontal organisations. Other prominent leaders like Harish Rao continue to be the trouble shooters in the party.

This might force the BJP to change its strategy and look towards young leaders. How much importance or freedom these young leaders would get later is a different matter.