TRS terms it as 'excursion'

Hanamkonda: Notwithstanding the comfortable numbers it has to seize the Warangal Council seat under Local Authorities' Constituency, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leadership seems to be in a huddle to protect its elected members, who have voting right.

The by-poll to Warangal Local Authorities' Constituency is seen as one last opportunity for the members of zilla and mandal parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs and MPTCs), whose term is going to end on July 5, to make a few bucks before they sign off. As soon as the filing of nominations was ended on Tuesday, the key TRS leaders of the district led by Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao were quick to drawing board to chalk out a strategy.

On the surface it looks like that TRS has no qualms, however, the party leadership wants to ensure a hassle-free election giving no room for complacency. It may be mentioned here that TRS has fielded Pochampally Srinivas Reddy while the Congress picked senior leader Engala Venkat Ram Reddy as their candidates for the MLC seat.

According to officials, the total number of electorates for the Local Authorities' Constituency is 901, this excluding those, who died and resigned from the posts. The electorate includes ZPTCs, MPTCs,Corporators and Councillors, in addition to the ex-officio members – MLAs and MPs.

It may be recalled here that Konda Muralidhar Rao, because of whose resignation the by-poll is taking place had in fact won the seat unanimously in 2015. Presently, he is in the

Congress after parting ways with the TRS before the Assembly elections. Then as the ruling TRS candidate and due to his hold in the district politics Konda was able to win the seat unopposed.

Even though the Congress has fielded Engala Venkat Ram Reddy this time around, the TRS leadership is confident that it's going to be a cakewalk for its nominee Pochampally Srinivas Reddy as it has sway over the majority of electorates. It's believed that that TRS has the support of 677 members as against Congress' 171, while the number of independents is 53.

Against this backdrop, signalling camp politics the TRS leadership sent a horde of electorate to Hyderabad in a special bus on Wednesday. According to reports, another bus carrying electors belonging to Jangaon district had already left for Hyderabad on Tuesday night.

It's learnt that the TRS leadership has made arrangements for the comfort of electorate in a resort in Hyderabad. The speculation is also rife that the members will be sent to Munnar hill station in Kerala until the polling, which is scheduled on May 31.

On the other hand, Warangal West MLA Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar said: "There was no need for the TRS to resort to camp politics. It's a routine excursion that we usually organise every year. Last year, we went to Kaleshwaram Project. The members will return to Warangal in a couple of days after having some fun in the capital. We would also like to thank Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for selecting Pochampally Srinivas Reddy, who has been with the TRS since its inception, as party candidate for the Council seat."