Jeevan is Congress pick for PCC chief?
Race for the new president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee has taken a surprising twist with senior leader T. Jeevan Reddy’s name surfacing after AICC incharge for Telangana state Manickam Tagore met AICC chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday.
Sources in the party disclosed that Jeevan Reddy would be the new president of the state Congress. A. Revanth Reddy will be appointed campaigning committee chairman. An official announcement from AICC is likely by Monday midnight or Tuesday.
Till Monday, names of MPs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, A. Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and MLA D. Sridhar Babu had been doing rounds in the party and media as being favourites in the race for being the new president of TPCC.
Tagore met Sonia Gandhi and is said to have discussed with her issues about selection of a new president for Telangana state Congress unit. After the meeting, Tagore is said to have called Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and D. Sridhar Babu over phone and discussed the issue with them.
Analysts in the Congress felt that the party high command had considered Jeevan Reddy’s name as he has been loyal to the party. He had also contested against Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao from Karimnagar when the latter had resigned from the UPA-1 government and went for a byelection.
Though Jeevan Reddy was defeated in the 2018 elections, he won in the MLC election for the Karimnagar graduates segment. They also felt that the Congress high command wanted a noncontroversial leader who could coordinate between youngsters and senior leaders in the party.
While Sonia Gandhi and Tagore were discussing the selection of the new president in Delhi, Revanth Reddy, a frontline contender for the post, in an interview with a vernacular TV in Hyderabad, said that his favourite post is party campaigning committee chairman, because it gives him scope for more interaction with people and take the party forward with various campaigning methods, including padayatras.
With this, party leaders now feel that Revanth Reddy will not get the post; that the party high command has decided that the top post will go to a senior leader who has remained committed to the party for decades.
The party leaders claim that the party high command is considering Revanth Reddy for the campaigning committee chairman’s post as the party wanted a leader who could take the party aggressively to the people. Revanth Reddy and Jeevan Reddy could coordinate with each other better than the other probables.
In this backdrop, sources say Jeevan Reddy will likely be the new TPCC chief, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy will be the working president, and Revanth Reddy will be chairman of the campaigning committee and D. Sridhar Babu will likely to be the Congress Legislative Party. Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka may become chairman of the TPCC coordination committee.
However, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Sridhar Babu do not appear to be not keen on accepting these positions. Venkat Reddy, in fact, has reportedly sought a post in the Congress Working Committee.
In this backdrop, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka will continue as the CLP leader.