Hyderabad, September 21: Chief Minister K Rosaiah today said the results of the local body elections showed that the Congress was growing stronger in the State and the Telugu Desam Party waning. He made it a point to mention that the TDP had lost in its stronghold, Srikakulam district. Speaking to reporters at the Assembly here today, the chief minister said the results were the outcome of the welfare and development programmes started by late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy under the aegis of AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Rosaiah noted with satisfaction that the Congress had won 15 (up by 4) out of 19 ZPTC seats with big majorities while the TDP had taken only 4 (down by 4) seats with low margins.
As for MPTC elections, out of 18 seats, the Congress won 15 seats (a gain of four), one was bagged by an Independent and the TDP took just three seats (down by three).
In the byelections to municipalities and corporations across the State, the results were close, with the Congress bagging nine seats and the TDP eight.
The chief minister said that after the sudden demise of YS Rajasekhara Reddy several opponents of the Congress had thought that the party would be politically finished in the State, but the people had stood by it. Now the stress would be on strengthening the the party where it was weak. “Rahul Gandhi is working on boosting Congress wherever it had lost hold in the country,’’ he said.
–Agencies–