Civic polls: a litmus test for all parties

• Nobody wanted it now; Cong worried more than all others
• Loss in civic polls will have severe impact on general elections
• TDP feels it’s a great opportunity to prove its strength
• Wrong timing, says TRS

Hyderabad: The sudden announcement of Municipal election schedule has come as a major blow for all parties as they will undergo the litmus test.

The outcome of the elections to municipalities and municipal corporations, to be held on party basis, could be a pointer to the public mood ahead of the general elections in the State that is set to be bifurcated.

About one crore voters will cast their ballots in 146 municipalities and 10 municipal corporations.

The Congress party in the State is more worried than all other parties. It is facing an uphill task in the Seemandhra region and if it loses the municipal polls it can forget about winning even the few seats which it hopes to win in the region.

In Telangana also it will not be a smooth sailing. The elections will be held on the party symbols.

With merger with TRS ruled out, if the party fails to win majority of municipalities, it could help the TRS in the general elections, feel senior party leaders. Picking up candidates for the local bodies will also be a problem and could fuel internal squabbles. The main opposition TDP is not for any poll alliance with the BJP in the municipal elections.

In fact the party, which was the first one to review the situation after the announcement of the municipal poll schedule, has launched its campaign.

Party president N Chandrababu Naidu told the party workers to take the Congress on corruption and highlight the local problems like shortage of power and corruption in local bodies etc.

DP will have a separate manifesto for local body elections. Naidu feels that this was a great opportunity to prove its strength before the general elections, particularly in the Seemandhra region.

The BJP state unit has already decided that it will not have any tie- up with any party whether it be in Telangana or Seemandhra region. It has nominated leaders for each of the districts who will visit all the 56 municipalities in the T region and launch the campaign from Tuesday. The Seemandhra BJP leaders will meet on Tuesday to chalk out their strategies.

The YSR Congress party’s stand in support of united Andhra has put the party leadership in a great dilemma on whether it should contest the municipal elections in the T region or not.

The party does not have any clue on what plank the YSR party should fight the election in the T region and attract the voters. While they propose to have tie-up with the CPM and contest in municipalities where the CPM has a base like Nalgonda, Khammam and Rangareddy districts, it will contest all municipalities in Seemandhra region.

According to TRS leaders, the party is yet to give a thought to the issue. At present, TRS is focusing attention on whether it should go alone in the elections or merge the party with the Congress.

According to party leaders KCR will hold a meeting with district leaders in the next two or three days. TRS feels that the timing of municipal polls was wrong. This will divert the attention of the parties. If any party does not fare well, it could have serious impact on the fortunes of that party in the general elections.