Congress may skip T by-polls

A second meeting is being planned next week. Keeping in mind Telangana sentiment, it would be wise for the Congress not to contest the elections. Another reason is that in case it contests and wins a seat against TRS, the Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders can claim this as a rejection of the Telangana sentiment in the region, said a T Congress leader. But, real reason is that it is sure that it cannot win a single seat. The polls were necessitated following the resignation of 10 TRS MLAs and one each of the TDP and BJP at the height of the T agitation in February this year. Congress insiders admit that all the 12 MLAs who resigned have a very good chance of retaining their seats with a bigger margin. Not only that, none of T Congress leaders submitted their resignations. Thus if the party fields candidates, this will become the single biggest campaign point of TRS and will harm the Congress even more, said a leader.

The bypolls have virtually brought PCC president D Srinivas at the political crossroads. With his bid to enter the Council having been rejected due to denial of a ticket, and his chances of getting a Rajya Sabha nomination virtually ruled out, DS is increasingly being cornered into contesting from the Nizamabad Urban assembly seat from where he had lost to BJPs Y Lakshminarayana in the last elections. Therefore, DS will be the happiest person in case the Congress decides to skip the bypolls. In fact, he has been persuading several Telangana Congress leaders to campaign for the party not contesting the polls, said a T Congress leader. But precisely for this reason, some anti-PCC chief leaders are bent on putting the pressure on the party contesting the elections. While most are likely to press for the party skipping the bypolls, there are many others who are set to urge the high command to field candidates. But knowing that the Congress cannot win a single seat, Soniaji is likely to consider the plea of the T leaders, said a leader. The advocates of bypassing the-polls campaign have got a shot in the arm due to the stance of the Telugu Desam. We have definite information that TDP will also not field any candidate (except one seat) in case the Congress does not, said a Congress leader. They have already met several MLAs and those aspiring to contest the polls to rally them against the party fielding candidates in the bypolls. We have already conveyed our sentiment to the party leadership in Delhi. Now we are planning to meet Sonia and other leaders soon,preferably in May, another leader said.

Courtesy: TOI

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