Hyderabad: With the announcement of the Gram Panchayat election schedule, the ruling Congress MLAs have begun efforts to convince local leaders for the unanimous election of Sarpanches. Given the intense competition among Congress leaders for the Sarpanch post, as well as strong opposition from rival parties, the ruling party MLAs have been holding meetings with Sarpanch aspirants to secure unanimous elections.

Defected BRS MLA Kadiyam Srihari has already announced a sum of Rs 20 lakh from his constituency development fund, provided the Sarpanches are elected unanimously in the villages falling under the Station Ghanpur Assembly constituency.

Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay has also announced a cash incentive of Rs 10 lakh to the Gram Panchayats for the unanimous election of Sarpanches in his Karimnagar Parliamentary constituency.

The TPCC leadership has already instructed the MLAs to find the winning horses in the villages and field the candidates in the panchayat elections. If there were more aspirants, the Legislators would have to hold meetings with them and convince them to ensure Congress supported candidates elected to the top post in the panchayats.

The MLAs will hold sway in their Assembly segments only when a majority of sarpanches are elected with the support of the Congress , leaders said that the role of Sarpanches are crucial in the MPTC , ZPTC and Assembly elections. The newly elected DCC Presidents also started an exercise to win the majority of panchayats in the local body elections. The hardworking Congress workers will be given the opportunity to contest in the elections. The MLAs were instructed to provide all support to the contestants in the elections.