HYDERABAD: In Telangana Congress, the problem is no longer simply that differences exist. It is that more and more of them are finding their way into the public domain.
For a party in government, disagreements are hardly unusual.
What has begun to concern the Congress leadership is the frequency with which ministers, MLAs and senior functionaries are airing grievances against one another, sometimes turning what might once have been settled within party forums into public disputes. One issue follows another, leaving the leadership to put out one fire even as another begins to smoulder elsewhere.
The latest flare-up is in Wanaparthy, where Planning Board vice-chairman G Chinna Reddy and MLA Megha Reddy have openly traded allegations. Chinna Reddy accused the MLA of encouraging corruption, spending crores of rupees to secure the party ticket and weakening the Congress organisation in the constituency. He also invoked his own four decades in the Congress, saying he had stood by it through difficult periods.
Megha Reddy responded sharply, rejecting the allegations and challenging Chinna Reddy to substantiate the corruption charges. He accused Chinna Reddy of crossing the party line and said he would take the matter to AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, TPCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud and other senior leaders.
The Wanaparthy dispute has therefore become more than a personal exchange. It has added to a pattern that the party leadership has been watching for some time: Differences that once remained within local units are increasingly becoming matters for the entire organisation.
Old-timers vs newcomers
The recent remarks of Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy have added another layer to the unease. He questioned the treatment of old-timers in the party, alleging that newcomers were enjoying positions while senior leaders were facing difficulties and insults.
The TPCC responded by warning that the party would take action against leaders who crossed the party line. That response, however, has also opened another conversation within the organisation — about whether the same yardstick is being applied to everyone.
That question has gained ground particularly among BC, SC and ST leaders who have received notices from the party’s Disciplinary Committee and have been asked to appear before it and explain their conduct. Some of these leaders are now asking why similar proceedings should not be initiated against Rajgopal Reddy, Chinna Reddy, Megha Reddy, Anirudh Reddy and other leaders who have also made public remarks on party affairs.
In politics, the question of who gets called to the room can sometimes become as important as what is discussed inside it. The leadership has already had several such rooms to convene. A month ago, a dispute involving Thungathurthi MLA Mandula Samelu, the Komatireddy brothers and Bhongir MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy escalated into a public war of words. Mandula Samelu had objected to the involvement of Kiran Kumar Reddy in local party affairs, and the dispute gained wider attention.
The TPCC responded by assigning working president T Jayaprakash Reddy (Jagga Reddy) to inquire into the matter. He held a series of meetings with ministers, MPs, MLAs and other stakeholders before submitting his report to TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud.
That episode followed several other interventions by the party leadership. A dispute between Youth Congress president J Shivacharan Reddy and YTDA member Eeswaramma Yadav over a flexi became contentious enough to require the intervention of AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, Mahesh Kumar Goud, Jagga Reddy and other senior leaders.
Another dispute, involving former minister Shabbir Ali and Gaddam Chandrasekhar Reddy over an audio clip, was referred to the disciplinary penal, which subsequently inquired into the matter.
Nor are the differences confined to one section of the organisation. Over the past few months, disagreements involving ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Adluri Laxman Kumar, Konda Surekha and MLA Kadiyam Srihari, and MLA Anirudh Reddy and a minister have added to the list of matters that have required political management. In several constituencies, local rivalries have spilled into public exchanges, leaving party in-charges and the TPCC leadership to deal with the fallout.
Leaders may be summoned
There is also a growing internal debate over how the disciplinary mechanism should operate. Leaders facing notices want to know whether public criticism of the government or the organisation will be treated uniformly, regardless of a leader’s background, position or political standing.
Party sources indicate that the TPCC may ask the Disciplinary Committee to examine some of the recent controversies and seek explanations from leaders accused of violating party discipline. If that happens, the committee could summon several of those whose public remarks have already become matters of discussion within the organisation.
For now, the Congress leadership is attempting to keep the disputes within manageable limits. But the succession of episodes has made one thing increasingly clear: in a ruling party, internal differences rarely remain internal for long once leaders begin taking their arguments to the public.
And with each new dispute, the leadership has to decide whether it is dealing with an isolated quarrel or a larger fault line.
RAJGOPAL SKIPS PARTY MEET
Nalgonda: Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who only recently asserted that he would remain in the Congress and that his main goal was to see Rahul Gandhi become Prime Minister, skipped a crucial review meeting in Bhongir chaired by AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan on Monday, again sparking speculation about his intentions.
YET ANOTHER INTERNAL ROW IN ADILABAD
Adilabad: Yet another internal conflict erupted within the ruling Congress during a PAC meeting in Utnoor on Monday when constituency in-charge Kandi Srinivas Reddy objected to former market committee chairman A Sanjeeva Reddy attending the event, which was held in the presence of AICC secretary Sachin Savanth and district in-charge minister Jupally Krishna Rao. Srinivas sought to know why Sanjeeva was invited to the meeting when he is not a member of the PAC.