In an unusual move, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has convened a meeting of the State Cabinet early on Thursday morning leading to speculation that it may pass a resolution dissolving the State Assembly to pave the way for early elections.
Sources said that the Cabinet will meet at 6:45 am at Pragati Bhavan, the camp office of the Chief Minister. Chief Minister has already asked all the Ministers to be available in Hyderabad city and those travelling in their districts are rushing back.
Chief Minister who was in his farm house in Medak district for the last two days has also returned home.
In another indication that the KCR has made up his mind to go ahead with the early elections, he will be kicking off his election campaign with “Praja Aseerwada Sabha” (people’s blessings meeting) at Husnabad on Friday. TRS has decided to organise a whopping hundred such meetings over the next 50 days. The party was planning to mobilise one lakh people to the meeting at Husnabad which was also the starting point of his successful poll campaign in 2014.
TRS sources said that the Chief Minister chose the venue and the time to launch the campaign as he found the day was auspicious. While the TRS leaders appear to be gung-ho on their leader having his way on advancing the Assembly elections to December, the final decision will rest in the hands of the Central Election Commission. The experts say that once the Assembly is dissolved on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, it will be up to the CEC to hold the elections any time within six months. The present House has the life till month of June.
State Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar who held a meeting with the representatives of all the major political parties in Hyderabad on Wednesday said that talk of early polls in the state was only speculation. “If the House is dissolved the decision of the timing of the elections will be in the hands of the election commission and we will go by its decision”, he said.
The electoral revision was part of the regular preparation for the elections and the meeting with the political parties was part of the process, he said.
The opposition parties raised the issue of deletion of 21 lakh voters from the electoral rolls in the state.
Meanwhile in a surprise move the Telangana state Congress committee president today released the election manifesto to send a message that his party was fully ready for early elections.
Key promises to the voters include house for every eligible family which had a house site, or Rs 5 lakh to the family without a house site, all social welfare pensions to be reviewed and increase, upto 200 units of electricity free for all the SC/ST and minority families.