TRS wins at Karimnagar, Cong. at Chittoor

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 2. The Telangana Rastra Samithi won the chairmanship of the Karimnagar Zilla Parishad today, helped by the BJP and the lone Congress member, while the Congress was able to resolve its internal differences to win at Chittoor with a one-vote margin. With these results, the Telugu Desam has its nominees elected chairmen of 12 Zilla Parishads, compared to eight of Congress and two of the TRS.

The TRS nominee, Mr. K.V.Rajeswara Rao, was elected chairman of the Karimnagar ZP with 22 members, helped by the presence of 5 BJP and one Congress members, frustrating the efforts of the Congress to capture the ZP. The BJP promptly suspended its members for attending the meeting defying the party directive while the Congress, which had 19 members and wanted its nominee, Mr. Mrutyunjayam, to win, said it would take action against the Congress member who attended the ZP meeting, Mr. Juvvadi Manmohan Rao, and provided the quorum required for the election. Mr. Mrutyunjayam strongly criticised the ``horse- trading'' indulged in by the Telangana Rastra Samithi to win the ZP.

At Chittoor, the two Congress members, who were followers of the Chittoor Congress MLA, Mr. C.K.Babu, who abstained twice before forcing postponement of the election, attended the meeting and helped the Congress candidate, Ms. Reddamma, to win. Mr. Babu had come to Hyderabad and had discussions with Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy on the choice of the vice-chairman. Though Mr. Babu was holding out on the compromise, the Congress MLA, Mr. R.Chenga Reddy, had a meeting with him today, as a result of which all the 33 Congress members attended the meeting and had their nominees elected, while the 32 Telugu Desam members forced a contest. The Telangana Rastra Samithi polled 19.27 per cent of the votes in the recent ZP elections, and this roughly equals the erosion of 9.74 per cent suffered by the Congress, 5.91 per cent by the TDP, 1.49 per cent by the CPI, 0.48 per cent by the CPI (M) and 0.35 per cent by the BJP, compared to the votes polled by them in the 1999 Assembly elections in the Telangana region.

Meanwhile, the Congress-I leadership heaved a sigh of relief with the party capturing the Chittoor Zilla Parishad, putting an end to the week-long tense drama. Hailing the party's victory, the APCC-I president, Mr.M.Satyanarayana Rao, said it became possible as the district leaders closed their ranks and supported the party nominee. He was of the view that the warning by the party high command against acts of indiscipline and sabotage was timely.

The PCC-I chief held discussions with the leader of the Congress- I Legislature Party (CLP), Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy at Gandhi Bhavan on the party's strategy for the gram panchayat elections.

It was decided at the meeting to leave both the selection of the candidates and the campaign entirely in the hands of the local leadership. The PCC-I president underlined the need to ensure discipline in the party in the light of the setback it suffered in the Zilla Parishad elections. He is understood to have advised Dr.Reddy to restrain ``some over-enthusiastic'' legislators from airing their views on sensitive and controversial issues.

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Section  : Southern States
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