MLC Elections: Democracy Has Won, Says Congress

Describing the Congress candidates' winning two MLC seats out of eight as a victory for democracy, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress Party had won the seats though the ruling TRS indulged in low-level politics by resorting to black-mailing, misusing power, threatening public representatives, buying public representatives like domestic animals in the market, and making politics a business in general.

Reddy alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had hatched a conspiracy to cut the Opposition parties to size, and for this had jettisoned the Constitution and indulged in anti-democratic policies extensively.

He pointed out that the CPI candidate Puvvada Nageshwara Rao had lost the election by a mere 31 votes in the Khammam district where the Congress extended its support to him. He asked people how the TRS, which had only four local bodies seats in the Khammam district, got 313 votes.

The undemocratic politics of the ruling Party hit a peak in the Ranga Reddy district where they had no majority votes but won two MLC seats, he alleged.

He also alleged that the YSR Congress was working as an agent of the ruling TRS, as was proved in the Khammam district with the win of the TRS.

He said that the Congress had won the election in Nalgonda by a 193-vote majority though the ruling TRS spent huge money and hatched several plans, and that the Congress candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy won the election with first priority votes. He said that the win, as also that in Mahabubnagar, showed the sincerity of the Congress leaders, who had worked selflessly without succumbing to the threats of the ruling Party. He exuded confidence that the Congress would continue its winning streak in the coming elections.

Reddy said that the Party would adopt a "select and elect" system in the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections in selecting the candidates. The Party workers of the divisions concerned would select the candidates for the divisions, he said.