Flout Udaipur rule for us too, say Cong’s BC leaders
The Congress's decision to flout the Udaipur Declaration and give tickets to a father-son duo who joined the party recently is not being taken well by others.
BC leaders in the Congress, who have indicated their displeasure with the party numerous times recently, have said the party should also allocate two tickets to BC leaders Konda Surekha, a Padmashali, and her husband Konda Murali, a Munnuru Kapu. They have also asked the Congress to give two tickets to families of some SC and ST leaders as well.
Old pals to face off in Kamareddy?
The Congress might field a leader as senior as KCR to take the CM on in Kamareddy. A five-time TDP MLA from Dichpalli (now Nizamabad Rural), Mandava Venkateshwara Rao was considered close to KCR and they have both served as ministers in the Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet. After 2014, the Kamma leader quit active politics. Before the 2018 polls, he played an important role in establishing the TDP-Congress alliance, Ahead of the 2019 LS polls, he joined the BRS. He was wooed by parties like BJP last year. Now, the State Congress, led by an ex-TDP leader, is trying to persuade him to contest in Kamareddy. By fielding the senior leader, the Congress will also placate the Kamma community, which, led by Renuka Chowdhury, has been demanding at least eight tickets.
Lockdown again
In a frantic attempt to dodge the bullet of posters and slogans, the Congress went into hiding on Sunday. It seems they couldn’t handle the chaos that erupted after they announced their first list of candidates for the upcoming elections, and locked the entry and exit points of Gandhi Bhavan. Some of the disgruntled ticket aspirants went full meme mode on Congress. They furiously printed posters with screengrabs from the alleged note-for-vote scam videos. It appeared as if Congress’ own force had turned against them in the middle of a war.
One dynasty, different parties
Political dynasties are a common feature of Indian politics and Telangana is no exception. Sometimes members of a political family might even be in positions of power in different parties. In one such instance, the son of a BRS MLC has been given the Nagarkurnool ticket by the Congress. The father has still not officially shifted parties.
Inputs: Ireddy Srinivas Reddy, MVK Sastry, B Kartheek