HYDERABAD: Exposing the deep faultlines within PCC, Congress’ review meeting on the Huzurabad debacle witnessed allegations and counter-allegations between different groups of the party’s top leaders, in New Delhi on Saturday.
During the meeting chaired by AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, two factions — loyalists of current PCC chief A Revanth Reddy and former PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy — blamed each other for the Huzurabad loss. The meeting, which was attended by over a dozen leaders from the State, was organised after AICC chief Sonia Gandhi wanted to know the cause for the poor performance, as the party lost its deposit and could only secure about 3,000 votes out of 2 lakh votes polled.
The leaders tried to pass the buck so as to avoid taking the blame for the loss. The issue of Padi Kaushik Reddy (party candidate for 2018 Assembly elections) cropped up. The leaders who were in charge of the bypoll put the onus on young leader who, after Revanth’s accession as PCC chief, had left the party to join TRS.
The meeting witnessed heated discussions over Kaushik’s earlier misadventures and him being a cousin of Uttam was also brought up. Former MP Ponnam Prabhakar, who had earlier too blamed Kaushik Reddy, once again reiterated his stand. He also called for a review of the party’s performance in the earlier bypolls, including Dubbaka, Nagarjunasagar and Huzurnagar, when Uttam was at the helm of affairs.
Some senior leaders, including V Hanumantha Rao, questioned the selection of candidates and the delay in announcing the candidate’s name. Rao asked why the candidature of former minister Konda Surekha was dropped, while some others wondered as to why NSUI State president Balmoor Venkat, the eventual candidate, was made a ‘scapegoat’. They also questioned why Revanth, who claimed to be a charismatic leader and had attracted huge crowds during public meetings, had failed to translate the same into votes.
Jagga Reddy fumes over not getting invite
PCC working president T Jagga Reddy, who has been very vocal on the party’s election campaign in Huzurabad, questioned the AICC for not inviting him for the review meet. “Why did the party not declare a local candidate? Why was the candidature of Venkat, who is also financially weak, announced at the eleventh hour?” stated his letter to AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal