The Telangana Congress on Monday passed a resolution unanimously urging Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Telangana.
Meeting for the first time after the party stormed to power in the state, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) discussed the preparations for Parliamentary elections.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who is also the PCC president, attended the meeting, along with other senior ministers and leaders like Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu and N Uttam Reddy. AICC in charge Manik Rao Thakre was also present at the meeting. The party today appointed in-charges for all the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Later, veteran Congress leader Shabbir Ali said, “The PAC unanimously passed a resolution that Sonia Gandhi should contest from Telangana. We are going to send a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in this regard. Earlier, Indira Gandhi had contested from Medak. We thank her (Sonia Gandhi) as the mother who granted Telangana.” Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had contested from Medak in 1980 and won by a margin of over three lakh votes. However, the BRS has retained its hold on Medak in the recent Assembly elections despite losing heavily elsewhere in rural Telangana.
The TPCC is aiming to win all the 16 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana leaving aside the Hyderabad MP seat which has been held by the AIMIM. It is of the view that if one of the Gandhis contests from Telangana, it would have a positive wave in the entire state in favour of the Congress.
Even after the decimation it faced in Assembly elections in 2018 at the hands of the BRS, Congress managed to win three seats in Telangana despite the fact none of its national-level leaders campaigned in the state.
BJP had also managed to win four seats in 2019 though they won only one seat in the Assembly elections held four months ago indicating that voters in the state tend to vote differently for Lok Sabha polls.
In the meantime, many of the political leaders from various parties who lost in the recent assembly elections are gearing contest the Parliamentary elections slated next year. For instance, BJP leader Etela Rajender who lost both in Gajwel against KCR as well as home turf Huzurabad is planning to contest from Medak. There is also speculation of KCR contesting the Lok Sabha elections to make a mark in national-level politics.
However, before the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress will also have to finalise the candidates for three Rajya Sabha seats which will fall vacant early next year. Veteran Congress leaders, who did not contest assembly elections paving the way for the Young Turks, are all hoping for a Rajya Sabha seat.