Telangana: CM candidature the bone of contention among Congress leaders
HYDERABAD: Internal squabbles among Congress leaders have come to the fore once again. Ahead of the resumption of next phase of Congress Bus Yatra, the issue of who should be the CM candidate from the grand old party in the 2019 polls appears to be leading to verbal duels in the party.
A day after A Revanth Reddy’s comment that his target was becoming the Chief Minister of the State, Congress MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy on Wednesday cornered Revanth saying that the Kodangal MLA had not taken part in the statehood movement.
“Revanth was in the TDP and supported the yellow party boss N Chandrababu Naidu during the statehood movement. Now he is criticising the TPCC leadership and staking a claim to the CM’s chair, which is not proper for him,” Reddy commented, during an interaction with scribes here.
The Congress MLC then said nobody should declare themselves as CM candidates from the party. “In the Congress, the party itself is CM candidate. No individual should openly stake a claim for the CM candidate position. All the party leaders should together fight against the anti-people’s policies of the State. We all should strive hard to make the party come to power after the 2019 polls,” he suggested.
Revanth had also expressed dissatisfaction for not getting a “suitable” post for himself in the TPCC. Interestingly, four days ago, party senior and Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy too claimed that he deserved to be the CM candidate from the party. “No other leader is senior to me in the party in the State. Hence, it’s an open secret that I deserve to be the CM candidate from the party, “ the veteran politico commented at that time. The comments made by Revanth and Jana Reddy have opened a can of worms in the party.
Rythu Bandhu is of no use: Sravan Dasoju
The Congress on Wednesday alleged that Rythu Bandhu scheme was aimed at wooing farmers for the 2019 polls. “Giving `4,000 as input subsidy to each farmer per acre per crop will be of no use. In fact, the government has suddenly introduced this scheme eyeing the 2019 polls,” TPCC chief spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said, while addressing the media here on Wednesday.
According to him, neighbouring States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha had taken several measures to help farmers. For instance, he said that the Karnataka government was giving a bonus of `1,500 on Tur Dal. Similarly, AP was giving `1,500 bonus on MSP of `6,000 for chillies.