NEWS

Congress poised for big win in AP civic polls

By Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
September 26, 2005

The ruling Congress is poised to sweep the polls in 107 municipalities and municipal corporations in Andhra Pradesh.

The counting of votes, in the pollsĀ held on September 24, was taken up on Monday morning in 106 civic bodies.

The Congress bagged 64 out of the 81 civic bodies for which results were declared so far. Telugu Desam Party came a poor second with just 6 civic bodies in its kitty.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi bagged only 2 municipalities while no single party secured a clear majority in 9 other civic bodies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has failed to open its account yet.

Elated over the victories scored by the party, AP Congress Committee president K Keshav Rao thanked the people for giving it a massive mandate in the civic bodies. He attributed the "excellent showing" of the party to the 16-month-rule Congress rule under Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy after the TDP was routed in the 2004 assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The civic poll outcome has come as a great disappointment to TDP supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu who had campaigned extensively in the civic polls and was hoping to cash in on Congress mis-rule, corruption and breach of assembly poll promises.

Even in its traditional strongholds in the north coastal Andhra, the TDP performed quite badly.

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

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