HYDERABAD: Signalling that loyalty will be rewarded while ensuring social justice ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Wednesday named former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury and Secunderabad District Congress Committee president M Anil Kumar Yadav as its nominees for the Rajya Sabha.
Anil Yadav’s nomination is being seen as a deliberate attempt to continue fostering leadership for the future — a process the party took up by picking Balmoor Venkat Narsing Rao for the Telangana Legislative Council. Balmoor Venkat is now the youngest MLC in the country while Anil Yadav is in his early 40s.
Doing so, the party has picked Anil Yadav over senior leaders such as K Jana Reddy, G Chinna Reddy, V Hanumantha Rao, Sarve Satyanarayana and others, thus sending a clear signal that it is favouring younger representatives.
Balmoor Venkat and Anil Yadav have served in the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) at both the state and national levels.
By giving tickets to Anil Yadav, a dominant community in BC, and Renuka Chowdhury, a Kamma — a dominant agrarian community in Khammam and Hyderabad regions — the Congress appears to be a step ahead of its rivals, the BJP and BRS.
In the recent Assembly elections and the previous GHMC elections, Hyderabad has remained a tough terrain that the party could not conquer.
By nominating a youngster who is currently Secunderabad DCC president, the party has focused on fortifying itself in the twin cities.
Picking Renuka Chowdhury is expected to go a long way in appeasing Kammas, who are the deciding factor in Malkajgiri and Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituencies.