BRS performance in gram panchayat polls in Khammam brought new energy into party, says KTR

KT Rama Rao praised BRS's strong performance in gram panchayat elections, with 127 sarpanches and 156 deputy sarpanches winning. He highlighted Congress's declining support and BRS's growing influence in Telangana

Khammam: The victory of BRS supported sarpanches and deputy sarpanches in the district has brought a new zeal into the party, party working president KT Rama Rao said here on Wednesday.
As many as 127 sarpanches and 156 deputy sarpanches have proven that the rural masses were vexed with the two year rule of the Congress party. The public who voted for the Congress in the previous elections were now regretting their choice, he said.

Earlier, Rama Rao was given a rousing welcome by the party cadre on his arrival into the district to attend a programme here on Wednesday to felicitate newly elected sarpanches and deputy sarpanches. Addressing the gathering, he said the ruling party would usually have an edge in gram panchayat elections. When the BRS was in power, the party recorded a sweeping victory in Khammam and Kothagudem districts. Congress won just a few sarpanch seats in the last GP polls. Despite being in the opposition, the BRS now won nearly 40 percent sarpanch seats across Telangana and it was a commendable achievement for the party, he said.
Many BRS supported candidates lost by minor margins, while many lost due to illegal practices during the election as well as the counting process engineered by the Congress. The performance of BRS in gram panchayat polls augurs well for the party’s victory in the future elections, including the Assembly polls, he said, exhorting the party ranks to work collectively setting aside differences to strengthen the party.Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy had tried to file cases against BRS worker Banoth Ravi alias Army Ravi and even sent him to jail. However, Ravi contested in the GP elections and delivered a crushing blow to the minister’s arrogance by winning the election with a respectable margin, Rama Rao noted.

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MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra, former minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Kothagudem BRS district president Rega Kantha Rao, former MP Nama Nageswara Rao, former ZP chairman Lingala Kamal Raju, former MLAs Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, Kandala Upender Reddy, Haripriya Naik, Mecha Nageswara Rao, Vanama Venkateswara Rao, Chandravathi and Thati Venkateswarlu and others were present.