Priyanka Gandhi to meet TPCC top guns to discuss Munugode bypoll

HYDERABAD: All India Congress Committee general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will meet top guns of Telangana Congress on Tuesday (August 23) in New Delhi and discuss the improvements to be made to the campaign strategy to win the ensuing by-poll to Munugode Assembly constituency, sort out differences between star campaigner Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and other leaders with TPCC chief Revanth Reddy among other issues.
This is the first meeting that Priyanka Gandhi would be holding with three MPs from Telangana Revanth, Venkat and N Uttam Kumar Reddy, CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka, MLC T Jeevan Reddy, campaign and election committee committee chairmen Madhu Yashki Goud and Damodar Rajanarasimha respectively among others.
Priyanka giving time to TPCC team has given credence to the talk that she is concentrating on Telangana politics although AICC leaders said Rahul Gandhi was quite busy with other assignments.
AICC Secretary Nadeem Javed who was recently deputed to Telangana, directly reports to Priyanka Gandhi. He met former minister and party veteran Marri Shashidhar Reddy at his residence here on Sunday and assured him to take to the notice of “Priyanka Gandhi” whatever issues he has raised about Revanth’s functioning style causing damage to the party, Manickam Tagore and Sunil Kanugolu ganging up with Revanth to project party seniors in poor light etc.
The meeting assumes significance as Venkat Reddy had been staying away from the party’s 100-day campaign launched in Munugode constituency on Saturday on the occasion of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Venkat’s younger brother Raj Gopal Reddy joined BJP in the presence of union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday and the talk in political circles is that the elder brother is not keen on campaigning against his younger sibling.
On Sunday, Congress leaders continued their 100-day campaign in 175 villages and a couple of towns in Munugode constituency for the second day and also staged a protest by dressing up like LPG cylinders, carrying floating balloon cylinders, displaying petrol and diesel prices and milk packet photos to highlight the price hike. They raised slogans against Amit Shah for the Modi-government imposing GST on milk products too.
Congress members interacted with the voters in every village and urged them to vote Congress to victory to save democracy. They said both the TRS and BJP are purchasing the leaders elected by the people from various parties and they need to be taught a lesson.
Former MP V Hanumanth Rao said Priyanka Gandhi should take over the leadership of the Congress party and contest from Telangana to give a morale booster to the party cadres and fillip to the Congress prospects in not in Telangana but entire south India.