HYDERABAD: On a day when the Congress released its first list of 65 candidates for the Telangana assembly elections, many party workers in the state protested at the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) headquarters- Gandhi Bhawan - on Monday. The workers are not satisfied with the way the tickets are being distributed for the elections that are due to be held in the state next month.
The disgruntled leaders and their supporters climbed trees to make their voices heard and urged Congress high command to give tickets to leaders who have worked hard for the party's progress.
Some Congress leaders and party workers from Vaderula community have been agitating in front of the party's office for the last a few days, demanding the ticket for Jai Ramulu from Patancheru constituency. There are a few other Congress leaders from Malkajgiri constituency, who have been on a hunger strike for the last three days demanding the ticket for Sridhar.
The Congress has teamed up with TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) to form a "grand alliance" for the upcoming polls. It has allotted 14 seats to Telugu Desam Party (TDP), eight to Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and three to Communist Party of India (CPI). However, the CPI has been pushing for at least five seats, though it said it would remain in the alliance.
The final list of candidates for 119 constituencies with alliance partners is yet to be announced.
"From one seat, only one person will get the ticket. Ability to win the election is the only criteria for giving tickets. In some cases, the party has to give seats to the alliance partners. As a result, some leaders are agitations. Many of them were called to Delhi and were counselled not to accept the party decision," TPCC spokesperson Gudur Narayan said.
"However, each and every competent leader will get some responsibility once the government is formed. It is very sad that some people, who have really worked hard, have been deprived of a chance to contest the polls. These leaders will be taken care of in a big way," he said.
The election to the 119-member assembly of Telangana is scheduled to be held on December 7. The counting of votes will take place on December 11.
