Telangana: Revanth Reddy on shaky ground after Munugode byelection disaster?

HYDERABAD: The defeat of Congress in Munugode is likely to give more ammunition to the detractors of Telangana Congress president, A Revanth Reddy, to drum up their campaign against him and seek his ouster from the top post.
Since Revanth took over as PCC chief in June 2021, this is Congress' second defeat in bypolls. Earlier, the party had lost a deposit in the Huzurabad bypoll and Revanth was blamed by his own partymen for fielding a weak candidate.
Revanth had brushed the allegations aside. Even senior leaders like Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, V Hanumanth Rao, Jagga Reddy have spoken against the "unilateral functioning style" of Revanth. They also complained to the top brass about him not consulting seniors on issues.
But while one group of Congressmen feels that Revanth's participation in Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra can save the day for him, Venkat Reddy's absence from yatra, could cost him dearly, say some. His fate is likely to be decided in a day.
Not only did the star campaigner skip the yatra, but did not even campaign for Munugode's Congress candidate, Palvai Sravanthi. He is also facing disciplinary action from the AICC for allegedly asking party cadre to work for his brother, BJP candidate Raj Gopal Reddy.
Meanwhile, with Priyanka Gandhi looking after the political affairs of the party in Telangana, yet another defeat ahead of the crucial 2023 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections is likely to push the Congress high command into revisiting its strategy in Telangana.