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Groupism in Congress rife before ZP polls

Adilabad, 25 September 2009: Getting more pronounced as the date for election of chairman of Adilabad Zilla Parishad (ST) comes closer, groupism in the district Congress unit looks potent enough to the party’s chances of getting its nominee elected.

The Congress has a very comfortable majority in the 52 member ZP yet, the going may not be smooth in the September 30 election.

While the DCC president C. Ramchander Reddy and Nirmal strongman A. Indrakaran Reddy wants a Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member elected on Congress ticket to be elected a chairman, the group headed by MLC K. Premsagar Rao is rooting for a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) member who has recently ‘defected’ to the Congress as a result of operation ‘akarsh’.

The DCC president-Indrakaran Reddy combined want Adilabad ZPTC member Madavi Raju as chairman while the MLC is said to have promised the post to B. Ganapati, the Koutala ZPTC who had crossed over from TDP.

The first group claims to have the support of 14 ZPTC members while Mr. Premsagar Rao is said to have enlisted the support of 27. The remaining 14 members in the ZP are in TDP camp.

The TDP on the other hand is sitting tight hoping to benefit from the infighting within the Congress. It hopes the 14 fence crossers will return to its fold and get the ZP back under its influence