Hyderabad: In an informal cabinet meeting on Monday, it was decided in principle to go for panchayat, MPTC and ZPTC elections before the end of July, but only after an aggressive outreach on govt’s welfare programmes. The govt is counting on Rythu Bharosa, jobs to youth and women-centric schemes to pay dividends in rural polls. The govt is waiting for resolution of the case on BC reservations in the high court to move ahead on polls.Sources said that elections may also be pushed to early August in order to give govt time to reach out to voters to showcase its welfare programmes. The cabinet will take a formal call after discussing it with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, and other senior leaders, sources said. After the cabinet approval, the State Election Commission (SEC) would be informed that the state govt was ready to provide police security, employees needed for poll duties and other logistics. As per the Panchayat Raj Act, state govt approval to extend all logistics is mandatory for the SEC to conduct elections.Sources said the meeting also decided that it was essential to get the message out to voters about the Congress govt’s sincerity on welfare programmes and that it was “not implementing promises with an eye on polls”.In the backdrop of two ministers, D Anasuya and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, earlier announcing in public that election notification was expected by month-end, the CM cautioned cabinet colleagues not to talk about panchayat election dates when a case on reservations was pending in HC and also reminded them that it was for the SEC to announce poll schedule. “Commenting on elections when the case is in court will send wrong signals to the judiciary, SEC, and give ammunition to a sharp opposition to claim before the people that it is an ‘election-centric Rythu Bharosa’,” he is reported to have said.Sources said the CM did not express his ire on any of the ministers for speaking out of turn, and instead gave a strong message that he wanted to work in coordination and cooperation with all ministers and party leaders. The meeting was confident that the court will decide in favour of the govt on extending reservations to BCs in local bodies based on the caste survey conducted by the state govt.The CM and ministers were of the unanimous view that the Congress will field candidates by implementing its poll promise of 42% quota to BCs in local bodies even if the case was not in govt’s favour. The CM and TPCC chief have been receiving a large number of representations on rural polls, with one section batting for MPTC and ZPTC elections followed by panchayat polls, while others seeking panchayat polls first followed by the other two categories.Hyderabad: In an informal cabinet meeting on Monday, it was decided in principle to go for panchayat, MPTC and ZPTC elections before the end of July, but only after an aggressive outreach on govt’s welfare programmes. The govt is counting on Rythu Bharosa, jobs to youth and women-centric schemes to pay dividends in rural polls. The govt is waiting for resolution of the case on BC reservations in the high court to move ahead on polls.Sources said that elections may also be pushed to early August in order to give govt time to reach out to voters to showcase its welfare programmes. The cabinet will take a formal call after discussing it with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud, AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, and other senior leaders, sources said. After the cabinet approval, the State Election Commission (SEC) would be informed that the state govt was ready to provide police security, employees needed for poll duties and other logistics. As per the Panchayat Raj Act, state govt approval to extend all logistics is mandatory for the SEC to conduct elections.Sources said the meeting also decided that it was essential to get the message out to voters about the Congress govt’s sincerity on welfare programmes and that it was “not implementing promises with an eye on polls”.In the backdrop of two ministers, D Anasuya and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, earlier announcing in public that election notification was expected by month-end, the CM cautioned cabinet colleagues not to talk about panchayat election dates when a case on reservations was pending in HC and also reminded them that it was for the SEC to announce poll schedule. “Commenting on elections when the case is in court will send wrong signals to the judiciary, SEC, and give ammunition to a sharp opposition to claim before the people that it is an ‘election-centric Rythu Bharosa’,” he is reported to have said.Sources said the CM did not express his ire on any of the ministers for speaking out of turn, and instead gave a strong message that he wanted to work in coordination and cooperation with all ministers and party leaders. The meeting was confident that the court will decide in favour of the govt on extending reservations to BCs in local bodies based on the caste survey conducted by the state govt.The CM and ministers were of the unanimous view that the Congress will field candidates by implementing its poll promise of 42% quota to BCs in local bodies even if the case was not in govt’s favour. The CM and TPCC chief have been receiving a large number of representations on rural polls, with one section batting for MPTC and ZPTC elections followed by panchayat polls, while others seeking panchayat polls first followed by the other two categories.
