After capturing power in Telangana, the Congress is confident that its affiliated INTUC will sweep the trade union elections in state-run Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), scheduled to be held on December 27.
The ruling party is focusing on the polls as a win would boost the prospects of the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in about five seats.
State ministers D. Sridhar Babu and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Monday campaigned for Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) candidates in the mining areas in Peddapalli and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts, respectively.
The ministers promised that INTUC will work to safeguard the interests of Singareni workers. They also assured the miners that the government will fulfil their dream of owning a house.
Srinivasa Reddy said the workers will be allotted house sites and interest-free loans of up to Rs.20 lakh. He also promised to make appointments in SCCL on compassionate grounds.
He promised that women employees will be given an opportunity to work in open cast mines instead of underground mines.
Sridhar Babu assured the contract workers that the government will constitute a high-powered committee to address their problems.
The SCCL coal mines are spread over 11 Assembly constituencies in erstwhile Adilabad, Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar districts.
In the recent Assembly elections, the Congress had won nine seats while its ally CPI had bagged Kothagudem. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which lost power to the Congress, secured only one seat (Asifabad).
The leaders of BRS, meanwhile, are confident that their affiliated trade union Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangham (TBGKS) will score a hat-trick. The party had won the polls in 2012 and 2017.
The opposition party has denied that it asked TBGKS leaders to drop out from the trade union elections.
However, TBGKS received a setback after some top leaders, including president Venkat Rao, recently quit the union. They sent their resignations to TBGKS honorary president and BRS MLC K. Kavitha.
The nomination process for the Singareni polls was completed in October and the ballot papers were also printed.
The Singareni trade union elections were originally scheduled on October 28, but were postponed to December 27 after then BRS government moved the high court seeking postponement in view of the Assembly elections.
Though Congress too wanted the trade union elections to be postponed till Lok Sabha polls next year, the high court last week declined to postpone the polls.
The Singareni trade union elections were last held in 2017. The TBGKS headed by former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha won the polls by bagging nine out of 11 coal mine divisions.
The INTUC, TBGKS and the CPI affiliated All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) are the major contenders.
Hindustan Mazdoor Sangh (HMS), affiliated to the BJP, is also in the fray but it is considered to have limited support among the workers.