Andhra Pradesh - Others   

Congress, TDP main rivals in Adilabad district

S. Harpal Singh

Adilabad Municipality becomes prestige issue for local MLA

ADILABAD: The confidence shown by leaders of various political parties in Adilabad district fails to hide their feeling of uncertainty, even as campaigning gains momentum in the six municipalities.

Leaders say they would have been more comfortable with `direct' elections to the municipalities of Adilabad (BC-general), Kagaznagar, Bellampalli, Mancherial, Nirmal (BC-woman) and Bhainsa (BC-general).

Except for the Congress in Adilabad Municipality, where it has forged an alliance with the Left parties, all the parties are `going it alone.' The party is projecting Digambar Patil, a contestant from ward No. 23, as its candidate for the chairperson's post. Winning the Adilabad Municipality is a prestige issue for the local MLA, C. Ramchander Reddy, since he is an aspirant for a Cabinet berth.

The electoral battle is mainly between the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is not very strong although it has fielded candidates from 149 wards in the district.

303 in fray

Adilabad has 36 municipal wards from where 303 contestants are in the fray. The Congress has fielded candidates in 29 wards. During the Assembly elections, the Congress had polled twice the tally of 11,000 votes polled by the TDP in Adilabad town. However, the TDP hopes this trend will reverse now since the MIM and other parties do not have an understanding with the Congress.

The Congress is wooing voters on the basis of its performance in allotting houses for the weaker sections, distribution of ration cards and increase in old age pension. The TDP is trying to project the Congress' failures in providing better drainages and roads. At Mancherial, the TDP is likely to fare better because of the Congress-TRS divide. Besides, the Congress votes are likely to divided due to the presence of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in all wards. Nirmal Municipality has also become an issue of prestige for the Congress MLA, A. Indrakaran Reddy, who is also in the race for a Ministerial berth. The TDP, which held this municipality, seems to enjoy an upper hand judging by the public response to the party president N. Chandrababu Naidu's roadshow.

However, the TDP faces trouble in all the 34 wards in Bellampalli and hence is at a disadvantage. The rebel factor was the outcome of the rivalry between the Asifabad MLA, A. Sridevi, and former Adilabad MP, S. Venugopalachary.

Prestige issue

At Kagaznagar, the Congress and TDP are less plagued by rebels. For the Sirpur MLA, Koneru Konappa, winning the election is also a prestige issue because Sridhar, the son of his archrival and former TDP chief whip, K.V. Narayan Rao, is an aspirant for the chairman's post. Despite returning fewer councillors, Bhainsa voters had supported the MIM in the last two `direct' municipal elections.

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