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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Council poll: all eyes on Jagan loyalists

Special Correspondent

Prestigious issue for Congress, TDP; 12 in fray for 10 seats

A mock polling exercise was held in the presence of the Chief Minister, the APCC president
Each MLA was asked to cast only four preferential votes

HYDERABAD: Much will depend on the stand taken by the two dozen and odd MLAs loyal to Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy when the fortunes of Congress, MIM and Praja Rajyam candidates are decided during polling for the 10 vacancies to the Legislative Council from the Assembly on Thursday.

They are seething with anger over the government's handling of the Telugu Desam Party's attack on Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for alleged favouritism in land allotment to various firms. They were irked that a majority of the Ministers, who served in the previous YSR regime, did not utter a word in his defence.

In all, 12 candidates are in fray for the 10 vacancies throwing up the possibility of some ‘surprise outcomes'. The election has become a prestigious issue for both Congress and Telugu Desam as they have fielded one extra candidate each, banking on their surplus votes.

Congress has fielded five candidates and is backing one candidate each of Praja Rajyam and MIM, the TDP has nominated three and is supporting CPI's P.J. Chandrasekhar while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti with just 11 members is also in the fray. Polling will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and counting will start from 5 p.m.

The Congress and its allies -- PR, MIM and three Independents – have an aggregate strength of 183. The TDP with 91 members will get the support of CPI five and CPI (M) one. The Lok Satta may support the CPI nominee. The TRS expects the BJP's two members to support its candidate. Its meagre strength did not deter TRS leaders from scouting for support from pro-Telangana MLAs of all parties.

Despite foolproof arrangements made by the Congress party to ensure that all legislators follow the diktat to vote for the Congress and its allies, doubts linger about the way Jagan loyalists would act on Thursday. The nervousness of the ruling party was evident at the CLP meeting where legislators were animatedly discussing about the prospects of the seven candidates.

A mock polling exercise was held in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, APCC president D. Srinivas and AICC secretary K.B. Krishnamurthy.

Preferential votes

To prevent last minute glitches, it decided to draft at least two to three Ministers to ensure that the voters allotted to each candidate turn up at the booth and exercised their preferential votes correctly. Each MLA was asked to cast only four preferential votes. Mr. Kiran will personally hand over to each MLA a slip containing the four preferences they will have to exercise in polling on Thursday.

About 24 MLAs met Mr. Jagan prior to the CLP meeting. They are learnt to have said that there was no need to back the Congress nominees, when the government was indulging in witch hunting.

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