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Political storm set in motion in T region

Updated at:
Political storm set in motion in T region
Political storm set in motion in T region

Monday's notification of byelections to the 10 State Assembly seats has awakened the Telangana region to consciousness. The scheduled elections in July, announced by the Election Commission, will be a litmus test for the political parties in the fray.

The toughest battles, of course, will have to be fought by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, which has raised the storm over separate statehood seeking to bifurcate the 57-year-old state.

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The ruling Congress and the principal Opposition Telugu Desam Party have nothing to lose and victory in even a couple of seats will only be a gain for these parties. Pradesh Congress Party president D Srinivas was vocal in his remarks last week that a win over a couple of seats in TRS bastion would be enough for the Congress.

The Telugu Desam, however, announced its first list of seven nominees to the bypolls hours before the Election Commission formally notified the schedule. Despite the party's internal contradictions, TDP is sure to gain a few seats by chanting innovative anti-Congress hymns. The TRS will have to adopt a similar anti-Congress rhetoric or lose to its former allies Congress or the TDP.

Nine of the 10 constituencies going to the hustings, were secured by the TRS and one by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2009 general elections.

These MLAs had resigned from their posts in February this year demanding immediate grant of statehood for the region. But the Centre constituted a five-member committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge B Srikrishna, to study the situation in the state. The panel, bogged down by tons of applications suggesting a hundred solutions to the T-tangle, is expected to submit its report by December 31.

The JAC of students who too want to be in the fray along with leaders of various other parties find the situation in Telangana quite tricky at the present juncture as they have to prove their mettle in their own heartland. 

The TRS as well as other Telangana leaders will have to fight multi-cornered battles with Congress, Telugu Desam and MIM among others. What ultimately may surface is the division of votes by thin margins.

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