Renuka wants Khammam seat

Former Union Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdary, who was disappointed with the attitude of the party leadership, made stinging remarks about party leaders.

On Thursday, she held a meeting with Khammam Congress workers at her Hyderabad residence. Ms Chowdary expressed interest in contesting from Khammam Lok Sabha seat, but said that she would support whoever was selected by the high command.

Speaking to the media, Ms Chowdary said that the Khammam party workers “will not keep quiet if an outsider contests”. She alleged that some leaders who were defeated in the recent Assembly elections wanted to contest from Khammam Lok Sabha seat. She added that she would be supportive if the high command wanted to give the Khammam ticket to Mr V. Hanumantha Rao.

To a question, Renuka Chowdary said “I am not so senior a leader as to complain against Koppula Raju (Rahul Gandhi’s office incharge). He will face the music for his mistakes.”

Ms Chowdary added that she was not consulted about the alliance with other parties in the recent Assembly elections, adding that because of the tie-up, the Congress faced a huge loss in Khammam district. She said that weak leaders had claimed that eight MLAs had won from the district, but the truth was that it was because of Congress workers.

She alleged that some leaders in the Congress were contesting after colluding with benami contractors. She said that Mr Kusuma Kumar was named as the TPCC working president because he belonged to her community (Kamma) but the problem was no one acknowledged him in the party. She commented that some leaders who newly got posts “were feeling that they were great”.