AP polls: Cong sway continues as TDP gains at cost of TRS

Hyderabad, July 5 (UNI) The ruling Congress has emerged stronger across three regions of Andhra Pradesh winning 16 of the 22 Zilla Parishads while the TDP made inroads into Telangana eclipsing TRS in its home turf in the two-phased Panchayati Raj polls.

The Congress was in a position to bag two other ZPs-- Warangal and Karimnagar-- with the help of its poll ally TRS.

However, CPI(ML), New Democracy and an Independent hold the key in the prestigious Khammam ZP where the TDP-CPI(M) combine and the Congress-TRS-CPI alliance were tied 22 seats each in the 46-member House.

The Congress won a clear majority in Zilla Parishads in Chittoor, East Godavari, Guntur, Kadapa, Krishna, Kurnool, Mahboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nellore, Nizamabad, Prakasam, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and West Godavari and was set to win the ZP chairman post in Karimnagar and Warangal with the TRS' support.

Surprisingly, the TDP, which had won 12 ZPs in the previous Panchayat polls, put up a dismal show in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema but for Anantapur. However, it made inroads in to Telangana by capturing Adilabad and retaining Rangareddy ZPs. It emerged as the single largest party in Karimnagar with 25 ZPTC seats as against 22 for the Congress and six for the TRS.

The TRS, encashing on the separate Telangana sentiment, had come to limelight in the 2001 Panchayat polls by winning 84 ZPTC seat, but came a cropper this time as it could bag only 27 seats despite its electoral understanding with the Congress.

In Rayalaseema, the TDP won a clear majority in faction-prone Anantapur where it was assured of the ZP chairman post with its candidates winning 33 ZPTC seats against 30 by the Congress.

The TDP, however, was routed in other Rayalseema districts. Such was its rout that it lost even a ZPTC seat in Kuppam, the former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's home constituency, and also the MPTC seat in the TDP chief's native Naravaripalli village of Chittoor district where the Congress won 49 ZPTC seats against 16 by the TDP.

In Kadapa, the home district of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the Congress bagged 47 ZPTC seats and its ally CPI three, leaving just one seat to the TDP. The Congress put up a good show in Kurnool winning 36 ZPTC seats as against 16 by the TDP.

It was a clean sweep for the Congress in Coastal Andhra Pradesh, including East and West Godavari districts, once considered as TDP bastions, as the ruling party won all the nine ZPs in the region with overwhelming majority.

Though the Congress won 51 of the 56 ZPTC seats in Prakasam district, it lost the Chirala rural ZPTC, part of Finance Minister K Rosaiah's Assembly constituency.

The Congress won 675 of 1097 ZPTC seats and 8215 of the 16,045 MPTC seats while the TDP got 347 ZPTC and 6121 MPTC seats.

The CPI(M) was successful in 331 MPTCs, followed by CPI 243, TRS 374, BJP 134 and BSP 29, the results of which were declared so far.

As many as 575 independents were successful in the MPTC polls.

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