Talasani, Bonthu seek tickets for women kin

VIPs lobby for Mayor’s seat; TRS looks at ex-Cong MLA

With the government reserving the Hyderabad Mayor’s seat for women from the Backward Classes community, there are two different kinds of scrambles in political parties. While in the TRS VIPs are asking the party to nominate their female kin, others are looking for strong women leaders.

Corporator aspirants vying for the post have been making a beeline to the TRS headquarters at Telangana Bhavan, and Pragathi Bhavan, the residence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and municipal administration minister K.T. Rama Rao.

Mayor Bonthu Rammohan is seeking a nomination for his wife Sridevi Yadav and minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav who wants a ticket for his wife or his daughter-inlaw are in the forefront.

However, speculations are rife in the TRS that the high command is maintaining a close relationship with Congress former legislator T. Nandeeshwar Goud, who is currently moving with the BJP. The TRS has been seriously considering a woman member from his family, either his wife or his daughter-inlaw, since he had won two divisions in the GHMC polls held in 2016.

Srinivas Yadav, the minister for animal husbandry and fisheries, at a recent public meeting in the city expressed his desire to field his wife or daughter-in-law for the ensuing GHMC elections. The minister even promised the high command that he would ensure the party’s victory in over 100 divisions in the GHMC if his wife Suvarna or daughter-in-law Mahita is fielded as a corporator and elected Mayor.

However, Bonthu Rammohan has been intensely lobbying to get his wife Sridevi Yadav nominated for the elections due to the caste equations. Rammohan has even discussed the matter with the party high command, on the basis of the strength of the Munnuru Kapu and Yadav communities in the city. This apart, Sridevi is also serving as president for the All India Yadav Women Front.

On the other main, the BJP and the Congress have been hunting for the strong women leaders to field in the GHMC polls. If they are not poached by the TRS, the Congress is strongly considering nominating women members of the family of the late Mukesh Goud.

However, the party is yet to sit and finalise its plan for the GHMC polls.

The BJP is still pinning hopes on the delimitation of GHMC divisions to try and make a mark. BJP leaders said that at any movement the state government would divide the GHMC into three corporations.

Asked about this, sources in the TRS ruled out such a possibility. These sources said that the government had already formed municipal corporations on the city outskirts last year and elections were also held there earlier this year. It is too early to speak of further delimitation, they said.

It is understood that the top state BJP leadership was not prepared for the GHMC polls, though party unit president Bandi Sanjay has split the Hyderabad party into four units. The BJP leaders would convene a meeting next week.