Hyderabad: Frustration is building up in the ruling Congress, especially among seniors, over MLC, Rajya Sabha, nominated posts and tickets for ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had filled up some nominated, MLC posts, while those who were denied berths and Assembly tickets were waiting for Lok Sabha tickets, nominated posts, etc.
Senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao is among them and is yearning for a Lok Sabha ticket.
“I did not ask for a Rajya Sabha ticket but was seeking Khammam Lok Sabha ticket. I sacrificed my life for the Congress party. I am well versed in the Khammam topography and had traveled extensively when Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Khammam. I am confident the Congress High Command will consider my plea and do justice to me,” Hanumantha Rao told Siasat.com.
Demand for Khammam LS ticket
There is a huge demand for Khammam Lok Sabha ticket including one from Nandini Mallu, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Tummala Yugender, son of Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, Ponguleti Prasad Reddy, brother of Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy to name a few.
Seventy-five-year-old Hanumantha Rao was alternatively hoping for a Rajya Sabha ticket along with others, but the Congress High Command shocked them all by nominating former Union Minister Renuka Choudhry (Khammam) and Anil Kumar Yadav, Youth Congress president (Hyderabad) and son of Anjan Kumar Yadav, ex Secunderabad MP. G Niranjan, another senior party leader from Hyderabad too had sought a Rajya Sabha ticket.
Like Hanumantha Rao, a BC Munur Kapu leader, several senior Congress leaders are waiting for nominated posts, MLCs, and MP tickets. They include G Chinna Reddy, Balram Naik, K Jana Reddy, J Geetha Reddy, T Subbarami Reddy, Kumar etc.
Original Congress vs new entrants
Frustration among the “original Congress” leaders is quite palpable at a recent reception organised by a Congress leader. “What we are seeing is not the original Congress, but the Telugu Desam Congress. The party high command should balance old and new leaders,” quipped a party leader.
Congress leaders in private assert Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is calling the shots with the Congress High Command in New Delhi since he brought back Congress to power in Telangana against a formidable BRS led by K Chandrasekhar Rao. And they don’t want to cross swords now since they are waiting for posts.
What about us?
“No doubt, Revanth Reddy revived Congress and brought back the party to power in Telangana. Credit goes to him. So did Congress leaders who stood by him. Congress’s high command should also ensure deserving posts to committed Congress leaders who stayed with the party through thick and thin over the years. SCs, STs, and BCs should get their due. We never left the party. What we find is that those who came from Telugu Desam are calling the shots and original Congress leaders are sidelined which is quite frustrating,” remarked another senior party leader.
He added, “Meeting CM too is no easy task. We never experienced this problem in the past.”
Media Academy and ally CPI demand
There is a keen fight for the post of Media Academy of Telangana State (MATS) chairman’s post.
Prominent among the aspirants include K Srinivas Reddy, and Tirumalgiri Surender, both ex-chairmen of the academy in undivided Andhra Pradesh, and Srinivas Rao PV of Big TV.
Tirumalgiri Surender has been part of the Congress manifesto committee. Allam Narayana was the first chairman.
Sources said that CPI, an ally of Congress in Assembly elections, has sought two MLC seats and one or two corporation/nominated posts. Press Academy is one of them.
CPI’s Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao is the lone MLA elected from the Kothagudem Assembly constituency.
The Chief Minister, who is having a tough time in fulfilling party promises, taking on alleged irregularities committed by the BRS government especially Kaleshwaram and other projects, scams in sheep rearing, and other schemes, is likely to fill more nominated posts after the Lok Sabha elections.
LS polls have become crucial for the Congress in the wake of the BJP onslaught in the country.
The just concluded Assembly session indicated the growing animosity between BRS and the new Congress government and Lok Sabha elections could see new political equations.
