An overwhelming majority of the elected representatives of both rural and urban local bodies belonging to the ruling TRS of the erstwhile composite Karimnagar district left for camps being organised by the party MLC election campaign managers at far-off places ahead of the December 10 biennial election to the Karimnagar Local Authorities Constituency (LAC). Many ruling party local body representatives, who constitute the voters of the election, left for camps in special buses bound for Bengaluru and other destinations in Karnataka on Saturday night, sources said. The party key functionaries made arrangements for their stay in resorts/function halls there till December 9, sources added.
The TRS has comfortable numbers to win the two MLC seats from Karimnagar LAC. An estimated 1324 voters comprising elected representatives of rural and urban local bodies, ex-officio members including MLAs are eligible to vote in MLC election.
In a sudden move, former Karimnagar mayor Sardar Ravinder Singh entered the fray as an independent candidate and announced his decision to quit the ruling party. He also claimed support of several elected representatives of local bodies, irrespective of party affiliation, to his candidature. This prompted ruling party campaign managers to shift the party’s elected representatives in an apparent attempt to prevent cross-voting.
After the TRS’s debacle in the recently held Huzurabad by-poll, key leaders of the ruling party in the district are facing an acid test to ensure the victory of the party’s two candidates -L Ramana and Bhanu Prasad Rao - from the Karimnagar LAC in the next month’s MLC election.
Sources said general body meetings of Yellareddypeta and Gambiraopeta mandals in Rajanna-Sircilla were postponed due to lack of quorum last week.
