BJP claim for civic chief posts

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 31. The BJP, which is negotiating a seat-sharing accord with the Telugu Desam for the civic polls, is keen on staking claims for the posts of chairperson in half of the 106 municipalities.

The State executive of the party, which met here on Monday, decided that it should contest the chairperson posts in 50 to 60 municipalities.

Mr. Baddam Bal Reddy, convener of the party's membership drive, stated this at a press conference here. He hoped the party would emerge much stronger after the elections. The electoral understanding between the BJP and the TDP would `wipe out' the Congress presence in the State.

The Congress supported the proposal to restructure the Panchayati Raj system in the State, but put its foot down and stalled the enabling Constitution amendment because it was afraid that it would be routed by the BJP-TDP combine.

Mr. Bal Reddy said there was tremendous response to the month- long membership campaign; provisional study showed it was up by 12 lakhs over the existing 8 lakhs and likely to touch the 25- lakh mark.The State Executive meet was attended, among others, by one of the general secretaries, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Regional
Previous : Local Body Elections: Congress-Left tie-up
           unlikely
Next     : Nine nominations filed for Gudivada bypoll