Hyderabad: Malkajgiri constituency MP Anumula Revanth Reddy has almost been ousted as the new president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), sources said.
Revanth, who is currently one of the acting presidents of the TPCC, will replace senior leader and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy. According to unconfirmed reports from New Delhi, the President of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, has approved the appointment of Revanth as the new PCC head.
In recent years, the Congress in Telangana has weakened with no strong leaders at the helm since its establishment in 2014. Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders of the party believe that Revanth can wage a hard fight. against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo and Prime Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), the source said.
A two-time MLA from Kodangal and a former working president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Revanth Reddy joined Congress in 2018. He was the forerunner of the TPCC chief after Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned last year after Congress won only two of 150 seats in the Greater Hyderabad municipal election last year.
Under Uttam, the Congress in Telangana lost the state assembly in 2018 and also three major by-elections. In fact, Uttam resigned as the MLA of the Huzurnagar seat in 2019 to successfully contest the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat. In the subsequent by-election, however, his wife lost the seat as the TRS candidate won the seat by a large margin.
It was also learned that Sonia Gandhi has also decided to revamp the entire PCC to make it effective and strong with a combination of experienced and young leaders. According to reports, the former Deputy Prime Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, the former Prime Minister Mr. Shabbir Ali and former MP Madhu Yashki are appointed acting presidents of the TPCC.
Senior leader and Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who was also in the race for the TPCC post, would be promoted to secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Similarly, former MP Ponnam Prabhakar, who has so far been the acting president of the PCC, will become AICC secretary.
Revanth has always strongly opposed KCR and the TRS, and is widely regarded as a leader in branding. Earlier, when his name appeared as a likely candidate for the TPCC chief, the old guard in the TPCC was opposed to it, but more details are awaited.
‘Revanth is currently the biggest bet that Congress has right now. Earlier, the belief was that there are many Trojan horses in the party that could move to the ruling party or even to the BJP. However, Revanth is one man who will fight the ruling institution, and he can also grow in the opposition space. And to make something like this happen, you need a warrior. For example, you have Punjab Minister Amrinder Singh, who is also a fighter, ‘said political analyst Palwai Ragahvendra Reddy.
Raghavendra Reddy added that Congress in Telangana needs to rebuild its presence from the ground up, and that it has all the qualities its party needs in a leader. “His biggest challenge is the people in the party itself. He must bring all the factions together. Uttam Kumar failed in that, “the analyst remarked.
The last election campaign in Telangana was the recently concluded by-election in Nagarjunasagar, which the ruling TRS won by a comfortable margin. Veteran and former Cabinet Minister Jana Reddy of Congress garnered about 70,000 votes, while the candidate for the TRS (and the son of the late MLA Nomula Narsimiah) Nomula Bhagat won the seat.
The BJP, which led the largest opposition, first struggled to find a good candidate there and eventually found a member of the Planned Tribe (ST), dr. P. Ravi, elected, who, however, could get only 7646 votes. While Jana Reddy secured 70,504 votes, Nomula Bhagat of TRS won by gaining 89,804 votes.
Source: The Siasat Daily