Lobbying leaders make a beeline for Congress HQ

HYDERABAD:  After what seems like ages, the Congress party office Gandhi Bhavan came alive on Thursday, as senior leaders showed up to meet AICC Telangana in-charge Manickam Tagore to give their inputs for the new TPCC chief selection. The leaders had a one-on-one discussion with Manickam.
During their interactions, Manickam emphasised on the need to strengthen the party in the State. He has been meeting several former MLAs, MPs, and Ministers for a couple of days now.

Initially, the one-on-one meetings were scheduled for two days -- Wednesday and Thursday. However, it has been extended for the next two days, as the meetings were taking up more time than anticipated.
For instance, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, one of the TPCC presidential post aspirant, spoke to Manickam for nearly an hour. In two days, Manickam could meet just 65 leaders against a target of nearly 150 leaders.

According to sources in the party, Congress leaders from SC, ST, and BC communities have urged the party high-command to elect a leader from their respective communities.After his interaction with Manickam, former Union Minister Balram Naik told Express that he had urged the party to consider his name to give an opportunity to tribal leaders. Similarly, Madhu Yashki, Batti Vikramarka, Anjani Kumar Yadav, Ponnala Laxmaiah, Ponnam Prabhakar, Damodara Rajanarsimha, T Jayaprakash Reddy have appealed to Manickam to consider their name.However, he has asked the party leaders to abide by party high-command decision, come what may.