SANGAREDDY: With voting for the erstwhile Medak district Local Authorities Constituency ending peacefully, the focus has shifted to who will get how many votes. Although the TRS is confident of victory, party insiders are keen to know if any of the MPTCs and ZPTCs or councilors cross voted due to their dissatisfaction with the party and the government.
MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy’s comments that the Congress will get at least 400 votes, 170 more than the party’s 230 votes, have sparked off intense debates in TRS circles.
It may be noted that TRS leaders lodged a complaint with the State Election Commission that Jayaprakash Reddy, through his relatives, was pressuring TRS voters in the camp recently to vote for Congress candidate T Nirmala.
In their complaint, TRS leaders had accused Jayaprakash Reddy of promising to pay `50,000 in cash and a vacation in the future. TRS leaders have expressed doubts that some councilors and MPTCs could have been lured by this and cross voted.
Incidentally, Jayaprakash Reddy has not claimed victory, he claimed cross voting in favour of the Congress candidate. This claim set off alarm bells in the TRS and Health Minister T Harish Rao, who is in-charge of the erstwhile Medak district, monitored the voting to ensure that there is no cross voting in favour of Congress candidate.
Meanwhile, a couple of TRS leaders said that a Congress councillor from Gajwel had joined the TRS two days before the polls and this would bring a few extra votes.