YSRC meet to focus on bypolls in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The YSR Congress Party Governing Council, the highest decisionmaking body, will meet here on Saturday to discuss the ensuing bypolls to six Assembly seats in Telangana and one in Nellore district. It will also review the poll prospects of the party in 17 Assembly segments where the sitting MLAs are facing disqualification after they voted against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government during no-confidence motion.YSRC Party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy will preside over the Governing Council meeting. All the 26 members of the council, including the party official spokespersons, will attend the meeting.According to party sources, the YSRC is mainly concentrating on Telangana region because the seats have already fallen vacant. The party is desperately trying to enter Telangana districts and capitalise on YSR’s legacy.But it has not yet made up its mind on whether to fight the byelections in Telangana or leave the way as it did in case of Banswada bypoll.A section of Telangana leaders in the YSRC are of the view that the party should contest the ensuing bypolls as it will help it to make its presence felt in the region.Some other leaders are of the opinion that if the party contests the bypolls, it will damage the YSRC’s image since the seats had fallen vacant because the sitting MLAs resigned for the T cause.If the YSRC fields its candidates, it will be construed that it is seeking to defeat the candidates who sacrificed their seats for the cause of Telangana. According to a Seemandhra leader, if the YSRC does not contest in the byelections in T, it will give scope for the Telugu Desam to claim that its charge against Jagan that he is in league with TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, is true.In this backdrop, serious discussion is expected at the party Governing Council meeting. However, the party is unlikely to take a final decision at the meeting on the issue. The party leadership will only give some indications to the cadre.The YSRC will take a final decision on contesting the bypolls only after the issue of election notification, a YSRC leader said. It will also discuss Jagan’s Odarpu Yatra in Telangana region scheduled for March.