HYDERABAD: With the Congress yet to announce its list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections, some student leaders from Osmania University, who have been active in the campus during the last four years and raising various issues against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) government, recently met AICC President Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Hyderabad and are hoping that in 2019 elections, they will get lucky.
One of the chief aspirants of Congress ticket from Osmania University (OU) is the head of Telangana Unemployed Students JAC and a PhD scholar at OU, Manavatha Roy, who claims that he has been working in support of the Congress party for the last two decades.
“Since 1998, when I was made Khammam district secretary of NSUI, the students wing of Congress, I have been working for the party. I have worked at various levels in NSUI, Youth Congress and I am one of the spokespersons for Telangana Congress now. I hope that the party will now reward me for my hard work.”
Roy wants to contest from either Sathupalle in Khammam, his native place, Secunderabad Cantonment or from Chevella - all three are Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved constituencies.
It may be mentioned here that before 2014 elections, Congress had first decided to give party ticket to Manne Krishank, OU JAC leader and son in law of senior Congress leader Sarve Satyanarayana but later rolled back their decision in favour of Gajjela Kantham who lost the election.
Other Congress ticket hopefuls from OU are Durgam Bhaskar, who has been active in various student agitations on campus and Dr Daruvu Yellanna, well known Telangana folk singer, whom the Congress had first decided to give a party ticket in 2014 but later decided against it. Bhaskar said: “I want to contest from Bellampalle, against the MLA Durgam Chinnaiah with whom the public is dissatisfied. And I have a good base too. But that seat is claimed by Gunda Mallesh of CPI, with whom Congress is in alliance. If not, I would also like to contest from Chennur against former mate in OU, Balka Suman from TRS.”
Dr Yellanna said: “I would like to contest from Manakondur constituency. If not, Dharmapuri constituency where Adluri Laxman Kumar of Congress has lost consecutive elections. We met our leader, Rahul Gandhi, when he was in Hyderabad and he promised that some OU student leaders will be given party tickets.”
Bharatiya Janata Party too has an aspiring candidate from the university in J Kalyan, who was part of the OU JAC during the statehood agitation. After state formation too, Kalyan, an ABVP and BJYM leader, was active in the campus activities for a while.
TRS better than others in giving platform to youth?
Although TRS-led government and caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao are often accused by Congress leaders of ignoring state of affairs of OU, it may be mentioned here that TRS offered political platform to OU students more than any other party in the state.