GHMC STANDING COMMITTEE POLLS : City Congress in a fix over candidates' belligerence

Hyderabad: As the date for withdrawal of nominations for GHMC Standing Committee poll is set for Saturday, all eyes are on the Congress camp which fielded more number of candidates than the available number seats. Whether Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee would be able to convince two of its corporators withdraw from the race voluntarily is yet to be seen.

It may be mentioned here that as part of the post poll alliance, Congress quota in the Standing Committee was fixed as eight while the rest seven belonged to MIM (the total strength of the committee being 15 members).A There is no confusion among the MIM ranks since the party high command already declared the names of seven corporators- A Samad Ahmed Abbad (Uppuguda division), Syed Minhajuddin (Akberbagh), Mohammed Mukrram Ali (Moghalpura), Meraj Mohammed (Fathe Darwaza), Habeeb Zain (Shivarampally), Aruna (Karwan), Mohsina Parveen (Vijayanagar Colony)- for the available seven seats.

The situation is entirely the opposite in the Congress camp. Ten corporators filed their nominations already, while only eight of them could be accommodated in the committee.A However, G Shanker Yadav (Begum Bazaar), M Parameshwar Reddy (Ramanthapur), M Prabhakar Reddy (Bagh Lingampally), B Raju Yadav (Panjagutta), B Pushpa (Ramachandrapuram), K Jagan (Jagadgirigutta), T Geetha Rani (Alwal), B Bharathi Raj (Moula Ali), M R Srinivasa Rao (Mettuguda) and J Devanand (Bansilalpet) are trying their best in convincing the party top brass for a berth in the prestigious committee.

Congress sources are hoping that the list would be reduced to eight on June 1, the date set for withdrawal of nominations. A According to them, Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee would intervene and force two corporators to withdraw from the race.

Since only one corporator from a particualar Assembly constituency is being given a chance in the committee, one of the two members who entered the fray from Malkajgiri constituency would be told to withdraw their nomination. On the other hand, it is learnt that one of the city legislator from Ranga Reddy district is likely to exert pressure on the party high command not to give importance to a corporator with whom he does not have good relations. This would reduce the final figure to eight, the party sources said.

In case the GHCC fails in their endeavour, PCC would intervene and issue diktats to all the Congress corporators to cast their votes for the eight members finalised by it in the poll scheduled for June 6. A In addition, an election observer would be deputed to ensure that cross voting does not take place in the Congress camp, party leaders added.