Victory in GP polls morale booster for BRS, says KTR

The victory of BRS-supported sarpanches and deputy sarpanches in the district has infused fresh enthusiasm into the party, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said here on Wednesday.

Addressing a programme organised to felicitate newly-elected sarpanches and deputy sarpanches, Rama Rao said that as many as 127 sarpanches and 156 deputy sarpanches backed by the BRS had won in Khammam district, indicating growing dissatisfaction among rural voters with the Congress government’s two-year rule.

He claimed that people who had voted for the Congress in the previous elections were now regretting their decision.

Rama Rao was accorded a warm welcome by party cadres on his arrival in the district. Speaking at the gathering, he said the ruling party usually enjoys an advantage in gram panchayat elections. When the BRS was in power, it had secured sweeping victories in Khammam and Kothagudem districts, while the Congress had won only a handful of seats in the previous GP polls.

Despite being in the opposition now, the BRS had won nearly 40 per cent of sarpanch seats across Telangana, which he described a significant achievement. He alleged that several BRS-supported candidates lost by narrow margins, while some defeats were due to irregularities during polling and counting. Rama Rao said the party’s performance in the gram panchayat elections was a positive sign for future electoral contests, including the Assembly polls, and urged party workers to work unitedly, setting aside internal differences.

Referring to a specific instance, Rama Rao alleged that Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy had filed cases against BRS worker Banoth Ravi alias Army Ravi and had him jailed. However, he said Ravi contested the gram panchayat election and won with a comfortable margin.

MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra, former minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Kothagudem BRS district president Rega Kantha Rao, among others, were present.