Early polls spur Congress to focus on knotty Assembly segments

​Hyderabad: The Congress has kept its entire focus on those constituencies in which the party failed to fare well in the last few elections. The party leaders are now engaged in taking feedback from the activists at the grass-roots level to analyse the reasons for the failure and how to overcome the hurdles.

According to party leaders, there are as many as 23 Assembly constituencies in which the Congress party fared badly since 1983. These constituencies are in addition to those segments in the old city of Hyderabad. These constituencies spread all over Telangana State and they havew remained a challenge to it.

As part of finding the ways to gain a foothold in those constituencies, the party high command has swung into action. Party General Secretaries have been getting in touch with the party’s mandal committee presidents in these constituencies to feel the pulse of those working in field. Party leaders said the process has begun on Friday and would continue till the end of the process of selecting the candidates. The party would find out the reasons for not winning in those constituencies and would try to achieve a success in the next elections.

Sources in the party said the Congress was unable to win in these Assembly constituencies or won once only when there was a favourable trend. The constituencies include Jadcherla, Nagarkurnool, Achampet, Ramagundam, Choppadandi, Dharmapuri, Korutla, Siricilla, Huzurabad, Warangal West (Hanumakonda earlier), Palakurthi (earlier Vardhannapet), Station Ghanapur, Mulugu, Siddipet, Banswada, Adilabad, Jukkal, Devarakonda, Amberpet (earlier Himayatnagar), Malkajgiri, Ella Reddy, Bhadrachalam, and Sathupalli.

If the constituencies in Hyderabad like Charminar, Chandrayanagutta, Yakutpura and Karwan are added to this list, the total number of constituencies where the Congress was unable to win in the past went up to 27. Most of these constituencies were held by Telugu Desam Party, TRS and MIM parties since 1983. The party did not concentrate on cultivating leaders in these constituencies to win them over to its side.

A senior leader of the party said since the Congress high command is quite keen on winning the elections is leaving no stone unturned. The party, which has held number of surveys in all the constituencies, have found out where it was weak.

According to party leaders the General Secretaries of Congress would take direct feedback from the leaders in the mandals on the prospects of the party in those constituencies and seek their suggestions to improve it. The party functionaries would try to find out whether the party has been failing to include some sections, ignoring the potential candidates and unable to address the issues in those constituencies.

The General Secretaries will discuss the issues after taking the feedback and take measures like ensuring identifying suitable candidates in these constituencies. Senior leaders cautioned the leadership about it. It is pointed that the party should take a comprehensive view of the situation and chalk out a strategy to overcome the hurdles to win the elections.