Revanth mulls padayatra, Cong cadres turn upbeat
A. Revanth Reddy, the newly-appointed Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president, on Sunday announced his intention to undertake padayatra from Alampur to Adilabad, but left it to the party high command to take a final call and fix the schedule. He will take charge on July 7.
The new PCC chief also got a shot in the arm with several district leaders and party workers queuing up to extend their solidarity. Several veteran leaders who opposed Revanth Reddy’s candidature, directly or indirectly, maintained silence over the decision taken with the final approval of party chief Sonia Gandhi.
K. Satyanarayana, president of Karimnagar District Congress Committee, N. Sridhar (Medchal), Dr Vamsi Krishna (Nagarkurnool) Narasimha Reddy (Ranga Reddy) and E. Komaraiah (Peddapalli) were among those who called on Revanth Reddy and wished him on his elevation, according to a press release. Former member of Parliament S. Rajaiah, Bellaiah Naik and Addanki Dayakar also met the PCC chief.
Sharing his views with party leaders, Revanth Reddy said he had believed in collective decisions and would never act individually.
“The party is supreme and it would guide us the leaders,” he said, adding that it was high time for the workers to convert their hard work into a movement against the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government. “It is absurd on part of TRS leaders to abuse former chief ministers N.T. Rama Rao and Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy,” he said.
Turning the tables against the TRS and the BJP, the Congress leader sought to know what action the BJP had taken against its leaders who went in a delegation to meet minister K.T. Rama Rao and even entered into an unholy electoral alliance with the TRS in the GHMC Lingojiguda division bypoll. The party (BJP) even set up a committee to probe into the circumstances leading to the meeting with Rama Rao and people were curious to know the outcome,” he said adding that the Congress won the Lingojiguda bypoll despite the TRS and the BJP the joining hands.
The appointment created euphoria among the party cadre in several places. “Party workers instantaneously celebrated his appointment by bursting crackers and distributing sweets without any leaders’ involvement,” said Kaushik Reddy, a Congress leader and arch rival of former minister Etala Rajendar.
Echoing his views, but with caution, Peddapalli DCC president Komaraiah said party cadre developed an emotional connect with Revanth Reddy and were crazy about him for his fight against the Chandrashekar Rao family but his success would depend on his ability to take the genuine Congress workers along with him. “If he restricts himself to leaders who like him migrated to the Congress from other parties, mainly the Telugu Desam, he would end up as a disaster,” said Komaraiah.