YSR hints at early elections in AP

YSR hints at early elections in AP
HYDERABAD: Giving indications of early elections to the State Assembly, Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on Monday called upon his Cabinet colleagues to gear up for polls.
‘‘Be prepared for elections whenever they come,’’ he reportedly told his ministers at a Cabinet meeting here.
Rumours of early polls to the Lok Sabha are doing the rounds in political circles in recent times.
The Congress-led UPA Government is reportedly keen on advancing elections to the Lok Sabha to February, 2009 instead of having them in May, 2009.
Rajasekhara Reddy told his Cabinet colleagues that exact dates for general elections will be known only after polls were completed in six States in the coming weeks. There is also a chance of simultaneous elections to both the Assembly and the Lok Sabha, he felt. The Chief Minister stressed the need to take various development and welfare programmes undertaken by the government to the people and said top priority should be given to maintaining rapport with the public. ‘‘Tell people what you did for them (during the last four-and-a-half-years),’’ he advised his ministers.
Claiming that the stock of the Congress has been rising with each passing day, he, however, felt that the party should strive to highlight the welfare schemes being implemented by the government.
On the other hand, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has also called upon the party cadre to gear up for elections.
The PCC is, in fact, contemplating organisation of a massive ‘human chain’ to cover the entire State border to show its strength.