Newly appointed State Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy spent better part of his day on Tuesday calling on the sulking seniors, who missed the bus to become the TPCC president.
An indication of all was not well within the party after Mr. Revanth Reddy’s elevation was available as TPCC vice-president Mallu Ravi visited the house of CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Tuesday morning. He held brief discussion with Mr. Bhatti, who incidentally is also his brother. The CLP leader was in the race for the TPCC president’s post till he was pipped by Mr. Revanth Reddy, who managed to win the confidence of the central leadership.
In the last one week, Mr. Revanth Reddy too met all the seniors, who by and large toed the party line and did not make an issue of the new appointments. He consciously avoided meeting party seniors like outgoing chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka, T. Jayaprakash Reddy, D. Sridhar Babu and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and others.
An impression was doing the round that he would not be able to garner the support of the sulking leaders. Nevertheless, he made a attempt to reach out to the party seniors. Accordingly, after Dr. Mallu Ravi met Mr. Bhatti, the new TPCC chief called on the latter at his residence. This was followed by visit to the houses of Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy and Mr. Sridhar Babu.
Unity mantra
Dramatically, after Mr. Revanth Reddy visited the residences of Mr. Bhatti, Mr. Uttam and Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy, leaders began singing unity mantra. Party sources maintained that backroom efforts were on since the last few days with TPCC vice-president Kusum Kumar, newly elected working president Mahesh Kumar Goud and AICC secretary Sampath Kumar who are understood to have prepared the ground for Mr. Revanth Reddy to meet the leaders, who till the last minute nurtured hopes of getting the coveted post.
It was pointed out that Mr. Bhatti, Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy and others had different reasons to be indifferent towards Mr. Revanth’s elevation. “Mr. Bhatti and Mr. Sridhar Babu were upset that their integrity had been questioned after they met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragathi Bhavan in connection with the lock-up death of Mariyamma,” a senior Congress leaders told The Hindu. It was also noted that some other seniors were particularly irked by some social media posts showing them in poor light. One leader, whom Mr. Revanth Reddy met on Tuesday openly lamented that he was provoked to react against such posts.
However, at the end of the day, Mr. Bhatti told reporters that all Congressmen should work towards the victory of the party in the next elections. He extended all out support for Mr. Revanth Reddy in his new stint. Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy too said he would abide by the high command decision to make Mr. Revanth Reddy the PCC chief. “The time to compete for posts is over now. We all have to work together and refrain from groupism,” he said.
AICC in-charge Manickam Tagore told The Hindu that with the new committee in place the party will go ahead with a united front. “We are strong now and Congress alone can defeat the TRS in next elections,” he said.