Right choice elusive for TRS

Hyderabad: In view of the stiff opposition to the proposal to field K Prabhakar Reddy as the TRS candidate from the Munugodu Assembly constituency during the byelections, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is learnt to have decided to get a fresh survey done by a national survey agency to ascertain the public mood before taking a final decision.

The TRS wants to retain the seat in the triangular fight. This constituency has assumed greater importance as it is being touted as a semi-final to the next general election. The BJP, which is desperately trying to win the seat, has poached Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy who was elected on the Congress ticket and has announced that he would be contesting the bypoll as a BJP candidate. On the other hand, the Congress party is also trying to field a strong candidate.

In the backdrop of this scenario, the Chief Minister had asked the district minister in-charge Jagdish Reddy to talk to the various groups within the party and see that all differences were put on the backburner. The Minister held discussions with all groups and he even facilitated a meeting with the Chief Minister three days back. But still the local body leaders held a meeting on Friday and expressed their strong opposition to Prabhakar Reddy's candidature saying that his chances of winning were not bright. Hence, KCR wants to get a ground-level report about the winning chances of Prabhakar Reddy and also search for an alternative so that in case the survey report goes against Reddy, he can pick another candidate who would be acceptable to all and ensure victory for the TRS. The Chief Minister would be addressing a public meeting at Munugodu on August 20 and he may announce the name of the candidate on that day.

TRS leadership feels the voters are with the party but it is the internal group politics that pose a threat. KCR, party leaders say, wants to ensure that there was no dissension within the party lest the opposition parties may try to take advantage of the situation.