HYDERABAD: The revamp of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) has left several leaders fuming. The recently lists ruffled the feathers of leaders who either wanted key positions or those who had been dropped from several of the committees.
After senior leaders in the party expressed their displeasure over the reconstitution, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was also ill at ease as he himself was excluded from the exercise of the reconstitution of the TPCC.
After Manthani MLA and All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary D Sridhar Babu expressed displeasure and former minister Konda Surekha resigned as the Pradesh Executive Committee (PEC) member for not being included in the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), the latest to join the line is Congress official State spokesperson Bellaiah Naik, who is expected to tender his resignation on Tuesday.
Bellaiah, who was in Rajasthan participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, informed TNIE that he holds the position of the national vice-president of Adivasi Congress. He was resigning as the State spokesperson so that the ‘one person, one post’ criteria of the party could be met, he added.
The dissident leaders reached out to Vikramarka and had an informal meeting with him. Kisan Congress national vice-president M Kodanda Reddy and former MP V Hanumantha Rao discussed with him the inclusions and exclusions in the lists as well.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Vikramarka said that he was not part of the exercise to select PEC or PAC members, or even other appointments. He said that it was natural for those who felt that they deserved to be included, or the persons they had recommended, to approach him if they were not happy with the appointments.
“Normally it is the TPCC president and CLP leaders who sit and prepare these lists. However, this time it was carried out without my involvement. Some leaders have expressed that the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), women and other sections didn’t have representation in these posts as per their proportion in the population. We will prepare a report on this information and communicate it to the party leadership,” he said. Former deputy chief minister Damodara Raja Narasimha and former MLA P Vishnu Vardhan Reddy too expressed their reservations on the appointments.
Appointments violate Udaipur declaration: Cong leaders
Some of them were not happy with the appointments because they claim that it was not done as per the resolutions made in the Udaipur Sankalp Siddhi meetings, where it was decided that 50 per cent of such committees needed to comprise youth, SCs, STs, Backward Classes and minorities.
There were also allegations that the rule of a person holding a position for more than five years was overlooked in the appointment of District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents.
Many said that those who have been in the position for eight and 15 years were made DCC presidents despite being unproductive. AICC released lists appointing 40 PEC members, 22 PAC members, 26 DCC presidents, 24 State vice presidents and 84 State general secretaries on December 10, which became the latest flash point for internal differences to flare up once again.
Rejoinder
The New Indian Express had reported on Sunday that senior Congress leader and former minister Dr J Geeta Reddy was dropped as the working president of the party, though she was appointed as a member of the PAC and PEC. In her clarification, she informed TNIE that she continues to be the party’s working president.