TRS in a dilemma over Warangal and Khammam civic elections

Hyderabad: While the opposition parties have already begun ground-level work for the civic polls in Khammam and Greater Warangal, the ruling TRS is playing a waiting game. With the early GHMC election and the results having gone not so well for the TRS, party insiders said there was an internal debate on when to conduct the civic elections.
Term of both these corporations will end on March 14.In the meantime, the final list of voters has to be released and delimitation of wards, reservation of wards and a meeting of political parties with the State Election Commission have to be completed. “If the TRS wants to be cautious, there is a possibility of appointing special officers to run the administration in the corporations. The government has also not been forthcoming about announcing any schemes for these two municipal corporations,” said sources. The BJP and Congress, however, are of the view that elections will happen on schdule, if not early.
TRS working president KT Rama Rao had toured Warangal recently and a rally to be addressed by him was cancelled on Monday. State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar, TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy and Union minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy have been touring Warangal in the last few days. Sources said the TRS may opt for civic polls after the bypoll for Nagarjuna Sagar assembly constituency and MLC elections are over. “By then, the party leadership will know the mood of the people and work on ironing out flaws,” they said.
Meanwhile, equations in Khammam district are changing with BJP trying to make inroads into the district, which was once a left stronghold. Though TRS won the last civic polls, the corporation was in the hands of the TDP. With several leaders from the TDP and communist parties ready to jump into the BJP, the TRS leadership is keeping an eye on the changing political scenario.
With transport minister P Ajay Kumar, who is close to KTR, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who joined the TRS from YSRCP, and ex-minister T Nageswara Rao at war with one another, the TRS leadership has its task cut out. Nageswara Rao denied rumours that the BJP was in touch with him.