Opposition running out of steam before polls

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still scouting for ‘eligible’ candidates to be fielded in 119 constituencies, the Congress is taking its own sweet time in the pre-candidate selection process.

Hyderabad: Even as the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has almost finalized the list of candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections, the Opposition parties seem to be running out of steam even before the electoral battle has begun.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still scouting for ‘eligible’ candidates to be fielded in 119 constituencies, the Congress is taking its own sweet time in the pre-candidate selection process. This was being done despite an appeal from ticket aspirants to announce the list of candidates at the earliest so that they could launch their campaigns.

---

BC community leaders from the Congress have already demanded that at least two Assembly tickets from each Parliamentary constituency should be allotted to aspirants from the community. There has been no official communication or assurance in this regard from the State leadership. More so, the State Congress is collecting an application fee of Rs.50,000 from each candidate aspiring to contest the elections. There is also ‘rebate’ of Rs.25,000 for SC, ST and differently-abled persons.

The party also constituted a sub-committee to select the candidates. Leaders have been instructed that the decision of party high command would be final in selection of candidates and any sort recommendations or disgruntlement would not be entertained. Sweeping the state of affairs under the carpet, a senior leader from the party said since Shravana month began on Thursday, applications from candidates would be accepted from Friday.

Amidst these terms and conditions from the party leadership, the differences among leaders are getting exposed in several constituencies. At the party’s booth level meeting in Wanaparthy, supporters of AICC Secretary G Chinna Reddy and Youth Congress State president Shivasena Reddy raised slogans against each other and almost exchanged blows.

Interestingly, Chinna Reddy is also the chairman of the party’s Disciplinary Committee. Karnataka State Congress vice-president PV Mohan and former MP Mallu Ravi were mute spectators to the proceedings and after repeated attempts to pacify the workers, they called off the meeting.

Similar was the situation at meetings in Mahabubabad and Dornakal constituencies. Supporters of DCC president Bharatchand Reddy and former MP Balaram Naik abused each other. After the meeting, a few party workers entered into heated arguments with Dornakal constituency incharge J Ramachandru Naik over party affairs.

The BJP on the other hand is scurrying to find candidates. The party high command has reportedly entrusted this task to leaders from other States. Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which are also expected to go to polls around the same time, the BJP has already announced the first list of candidates.