HYDERABAD/KHAMMAM: Bridging the huge gap that arose between BJP and Jana Sena Party during the Graduate MLC elections, both parties have decided to form an alliance for the upcoming Khammam municipal elections.
Though the ordinary elections are being held for 7 ULBs, including Greater Warangal and Khammam municipal corporations, and nine casual vacancies in other ULBs, Jana Sena has decided to field contestants only in Khammam as they have a significant number of supporters of Jana Sena chief and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan in the district. On Sunday, BJP and Jana Sena leaders negotiated over the adjustment of seats and finalised the alliance. As part of the alliance, Jana Sena can contest in 10 seats in Khammam, while 12 of their party leaders have filed their nominations.
It may be noted that during the Graduate MLC elections, Pawan Kalyan had expressed anguish over the non-cooperation of BJP leaders and asked his party voters to vote for TRS candidate Surabhi Vani Devi. Jana Sena wanted to contest the GHMC elections too, but BJP didn’t agree to their requests and persuaded Pawan to support them.
A total of 3,630 nominations have been received for the polls to two municipal corporations and five municipalities, scheduled to be held on April 30. While a total of 1,753 nominations were received for the GWMC polls, 522 nominations were received in Khammam Municipal Corporation(KMC).
More alliances in store
Though the nomination process for Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections was completed on Sunday, several political parties are yet to declare their poll alliances. Only the TRS and CPI, and the BJP and JSP have announced their alliances.
Discussions regarding the alliance are going on among Congress, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders and clarity on the matter is expected by Tuesday, after the withdrawal of nominations, said Mohammed Javeed, city Congress president.
Sources say an alliance is to be expected among Congress, TDP and the CPI(M). The TRS has also reportedly agreed to give three divisions and one co-option member to CPI. The CPI(M) has filed nominations to contest in 20 divisions, while Congress has filed nominations to contest from 20 divisions.
CPI(M) leader Y Vikram said, ‘’Discussions are going on with Congress and TDP over seat-sharing and it would come to conclusion by Tuesday.” Sources say that the CPI(M) wants to contest from 25 divisions, but Congress doesn’t agree to this proposal.
Shabbir Ali asks SEC to delay elections
Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Sunday urged the Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) to postpone the ordinary elections to seven ULBs in view of surge of Covid-19 cases. In a letter addressed to State Election Commissioner C Parathasarathi, he said that as elections will involve intense electioneering by all political parties by way of public meetings, rallies and other gatherings, the common people will face the risk of contracting Coronavirus infection. “We would like to request you to postpone the polls in view of deteriorating Covid situation. Guidelines have been revised to make them more stringent so as to prevent further spread of Covid,” he said