Uttam demands Ballot paper in Panchayat Elections

Hyderabad, Dec 3 (INN): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Capt N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has directed the party workers to gear up for next Panchayat elections.

Addressing a meeting of senior leaders at Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the coming Panchayat elections in the State would be highly crucial as they precede general elections. Therefore, he said all Congress workers and leaders should actively work to strengthen the party at booth level. He asked the leaders to actively participate in the voters' enrolment drive being conducted by the Election Commission of India. He said the Congress leaders should cross check and take measures to rectify the mistakes in electoral rolls. A committee, headed by ex-MLA Marri Sashidhar Reddy, and comprising of senior leaders including Kamalakar Rao, Shyama Mohan and G Niranjan, has been constituted to deal with issues pertaining to the electoral rolls.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi has directed all the State units to focus and strengthen party's presence in Social Media. Therefore, he said 50,000 Social Media coordinators would be appointed across the State. He said WhatsApp Groups will be created for all 31,656 polling booths and other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will be used appropriately to take party's message and expose TRS Government's failure to the people. He said the social media network would be highly useful in coming Panchayat elections.

Expressing concern over reports of tampering of EVMs in recently held elections, Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the Panchayat elections should be held only through ballot papers. He said that the government would be pressurised and the TPCC would pass a resolution in this regard.

The TPCC chief also announced that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's birthday on December 9 will be celebrated as "Krithagnatha Dinotsavam" (Thanksgiving Day) for granting statehood for Telangana. He asked the party cadre to organise grand celebrations across the State.

Uttam Kumar Reddy also directed the party leaders to gather information regarding non-clearance of interest on waived-off crop loans by the TRS Government. He asked them to collect information from their respective districts in the next two days by directing meeting farmers. They should fill information in a specially designed form and pass on the information to the TPCC. He announced that the Congress party would not rest until TRS Government completely clear all dues of crop loans and their interest.

The TPCC chief also asked Congress leaders to visit Market Yards in their districts to check whether farmers were being paid Minimum Support Price and remunerative prices for their produce. He alleged that large quantity of maize and cotton was being purchased by private parties at lesser prices and not by the government agencies at MSP. He said that the procurement of cotton through Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) was highly negligible in Telangana.

The meeting was attended by PAC Chairman Dr. Geetha Reddy, MLAs Rammohan Reddy, N. Padmavathi Reddy and Vamshichand Reddy, TPCC Vice President Mallu Ravi, Chief Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan, former minister Sabitha Indira Reddy, Kisan Cell chairman Kodandareddy and other leaders.