The infighting among senior Congress leaders for the post of president of District Cooperative Central Banks (DCCBs) is worrying the state Congress leadership which is riding high on the party’s victory in the cooperative society elections.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana are determined to bag the five DCCBs, where the ruling party is short of a few seats apart from winning the 13 DCCBs where it has secured a clear majority. Bur the two top leaders in the state Congress are worried over the groupism in the party.
Former minister JC Diwakar Reddy, who wants to see his brother JC Prabhakar Reddy become president of Anantapur DCCB, is exerting pressure on the chief minister and the PCC chief to smoothen the way for his brother. Minister N Raghuveera Reddy, who too hails from the district, wants his close aide Tarimela Kona Reddy to get the post.
Though the chief minister and the PCC chief are trying to work out a compromise between the groups of Diwakar and Raghuveera, the latter are not relenting.
Primary education minister Sake Sailajanath, who also hails from Anantapur district, told reporters on Saturday said the differences between the top two leaders of the Congress in the district had subsided.
The Congress is witnessing infighting among its leaders not just in Anantapur but also in several other districts for the posts of DCCB president. For instance, in East Godavari, the groups of minister Thota Narasimham and Parliament member GV Harsha Kumar are at daggers drawn over which group should get the DCCB president’s post.
Same is the case with Medak district where deputy chief minister Damodara Rajanarasimha and minister J Geeta Reddy are vying with each other to have men of their choice as DCCB president.
In Adilabad, DCC president C Ramachandra Reddy’s group and MLC K Premsagar Rao’s group are at loggerheads as they want their respective candidates to eventually win the post of the president of the Adilabad DCCB. In Ranga Reddy district, home minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and a group headed by K Lakshma Reddy are crossing swords over the post.
With the election date of February 18 drawing near, Kiran Kumar Reddy and Botcha Satyanarayana are taking steps to unite the warring groups in each district to avert possible sabotage of the winning chances of the ruling party, and are holding talks with the leaders. Besides, the duo asked the in-charge ministers of the districts concerned to work out a compromise between the warring groups in their respective districts.
Accordingly, Anantapur district in-charge minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao is holding talks with the supporters of Diwakar Reddy and Raghuveera Reddy. Khammam district in-charge minister P Bala Raju is doing the same in the district of which he is in charge.
The Congress has secured a clear majority in the districts of Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari, Kurnool, Nellore, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Medak, Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Warangal. It stood first in Karimnagar, West Godavari, Prakasam, Chittoor and Anantapur but needs the support of other parties to bag the DCCB chief’s post in the five districts.