Telangana Congress seems to be heading for trouble with several senior leaders rebelling against PCC chief A Revanth Reddy and launching a “Save Congress” campaign against what they claimed was the party’s takeover by outsiders.
Trouble has been brewing in the Congress ever since Reddy was named PCC chief though he was a recent entrant into the party from TDP. Senior leaders though did not name A Revanth Reddy who is considered a popular leader, their comments clearly pointed towards him.
Matters came to a head after various committees of the PCC were reconstituted with key positions going to those who had entered the party along with Revanth Reddy. Among the senior Congressmen, who met at the residence of CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, was former PCC chief and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, former deputy chief minister of unified state Damodar Rajnarsimha, Madhu Yakshi Goud and Jagga Reddy.
Meanwhile, dissident Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy has also come out in support of the disgruntled Congressmen.
The dissidents pointed out that of a total of the 108 members in different committees 58 were from TDP. “We are taking up a campaign ‘Save Congress’ in Telangana,” said CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka.
The CLP leader complained that he was not part of the process of constitution of the PCC and its committees. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the police commissioner had informed him the social media posts targeting him and other senior Congress leaders had originated from poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu’s office raided by the police.
The former PCC chief conceded that those who had joined the party from TDP were also Congressmen, but those who had given their entire life to the Congress cannot be overlooked.
The senior leaders complained that they were being targeted as ‘coverts’ on social media, but neither the PCC nor the AICC in-charge have condemned them. The leaders also took a dig at Revanth Reddy saying that a leader who has changed party four times cannot dictate them.
However, the Revanth Reddy camp has hit back at the dissidents pointing out that in the PCC there were no other leaders from TDP apart from state president. In other committees too their numbers were negligible said, Mallu Ravi, senior vice-president of the TPCC.