HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, the emissary sent by the high command, is believed to have backed TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy by clearly indicating the State Congress president would not be changed.A section of the Telangana Congress has been vociferously demanding removal of Revanth from the post.
According to sources, Dijvijay categorically told the party ‘natives’ that there will be no change of the PCC chief, and that all other avenues would be explored to resolve the issues that have rocked the party. He is learnt to have said that the party wouldn’t have sent an emissary if it was considering changing the PCC president.
During the one-on-one meetings, Revanth’s detractors are learnt to have told Digvijay that Revanth has been deliberately maligning senior leaders. “There were differences of opinion during the tenure of other TPCC chiefs, but Revanth is deliberately weakening the party by launching a hate campaign from the party’s war room,” the dissidents are believed to have said.
On Thursday, the AICC emissary spent close to 11 hours with party leaders, without even a break for lunch. He held a series of meetings with members of the newly-rejigged Political Affairs Committee (PAC), which also comprised a section of the dissidents, and other stakeholders.
Digging deep
Digvijay is learnt to have asked the senior leaders some questions to get to the root of the problem that rears its head in the party every now and then. He also enquired about the recent poll debacles, and the contribution of individual leaders.
Digvijay also asked the party leaders whether they had any strategy in place to improve the prospects of the party, without solely depending on the anti-incumbency of the State and Union governments. He strictly instructed the party leaders against going to the media and speaking about the party’s internal affairs.
It appeared that the discourse over dissent on the appointment of various committees was sidelined during the consultations.“There are no coverts; there should not be coverts,” were the words of veteran leader K Jana Reddy after participating in the parleys held by Digvijay.
Looking towards the future
“In the coming two days, we will reach a stage where we will all get ready to work together unitedly by clearing all misconceptions. Digvijay Singh has given me some suggestions to this effect and I also gave him some suggestions,” Jana Reddy said.
The reason behind the rift between a section of senior leaders and Revanth’s supporters was that the former believed that there are coverts in the party working at the behest of other political parties.A section of senior leaders, including N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, T Jayaprakash Reddy and others took exception to the “hate campaign” against them, and expressed their anger. This led the high command sending Digvijay to settle the dispute.
Bhatti hopeful
Vikramarka reposed faith in Digvijay bringing an end to the rift. He said that he has discussed economic and political affairs during his interaction with the AICC emissary.Senior leaders V Hanumantha Rao, Renuka Chowdary, Jagga Reddy, Geetha Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, T Jeevan Reddy, Dansari Anasuya, Balram Naik were among those who met Digvijay. During his evening walk in the Gandhi Bhavan, party leaders lined up to give representations on considering them for the posts and reporting the issues in the party.
Heated words between seniors, Revanth loyalists
Even as Digvijay Singh held consultations with PAC members and other stakeholders, a heated exchange took place between supporters of Revanth and “native” leaders. The Gandhi Bhavan erupted into chaos with both sides shouting slogans against each other. While the message from Digvijay Singh was clearly not to speak about the party’s internal affairs to the media, supporters of native leaders created a ruckus at the Gandhi Bhavan entrance when they found E Anil Kumar, who levelled charges of caste discrimination and corruption against former Uttam. At one point, they surrounded Anil demanding an apology for calling senior leaders as “coverts”.