Date:11/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/11/stories/2008031150050100.htm

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By-election fever grips Congress

Chief Minister asks Ministers to be prepared for the TRS challenge

— PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

Preparations begin: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (far right) at a meeting with Cabinet Ministers in Hyderabad on Monday.

HYDERABAD: As the by-election to 16 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats has become a certainty, the State Congress leadership has asked the Ministers to take the election seriously as “their future in the next elections depends on the outcome of the by-polls”.

Gearing up the party for the elections that can be held “anytime” from now, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has exhorted the Ministers to leave no stone unturned as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) would enter the fray with renewed vigour after its MLAs and MPs resigned from their posts. While 16 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats fell vacant after the TRS resignations, by-elections to Khairatabad and Terlam seats which fell vacant due to the death of P. Janardhan Reddy (Congress) and T. Jayaprakash (TDP) are already due. Dr. Reddy who convened a meeting of Ministers from Telangana region on Monday announced appointment of in-charges to all the constituencies where by-election would be held. The in-charge Ministers should appoint coordination committees at constituency level and ensure that the leaders sink their differences in working for the party’s victory.

‘Situation report’

They had been asked to organise broad-based meetings of the Congress rank and file in the segments going to polls on March 16 and submit a ‘situation report’ before April 1. There was no cause for concern over the Telangana sentiment as the TRS was ‘weakened considerably’ in the region, he reportedly said, citing the party’s poor performance in successive polls.