HYDERABAD: A day after making an attempt to endear himself to the teeming farmers of Telangana at a public meeting in Warangal, senior Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi on Saturday got down to the immediate task of cleansing the “Augean stables” of the party of dissidence which has been plaguing it for a quite a long time.
On his second day of visit to Telangana, Rahul got down to the brass tacks of drilling into the minds of the party leaders that discipline should be the watchword for them and any differences either on policy issues or with individuals should be brought to the notice of the party leadership instead of going to the media which would only lower the image of the party.
Reaching out to the party cadres at the TPCC special executive committee meeting at Gandhi Bhavan attended by about 300 delegates, the Congress leader urged them to bear in mind that they would get the positions they deserve in the party if they worked with missionary zeal in brightening the prospects of the party.
He warned them against playing into the hands of those who spread rumours that the party was going to have any truck with the TRS.
Whether it was internal politics and differences between the party’s state leaders, the issue of hardworking cadre not getting their due, or the rumours being spread by a few that Congress would compromise with TRS, Rahul seemed to know exactly what was going wrong in the party.
‘Don’t air complaints’
“I consider you all as part of Congress’ family. Different views and opinions are common within the family. Congress is not like the RSS, where one person takes all the decisions. We want to listen to everyone in the party, but not through the media. If there is a complaint, it can be lodged and discussed through our internal system, just like family members resolve an issue between the four walls of their house,” he said.
It was obvious that he was referring to the party’s perpetual gadflies — MLA T Jagga Reddy and MP Komatarireddy Venkat Reddy and a few others who carried out a campaign of calumny against TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy.
‘Work hard for tickets’
Rahul Gandhi also sought to address the chronic problem that the party had all along - lobbying more and working less. He told the party leaders that only those who work hard to further the interests of the party alone would get party tickets in the next elections.
“No matter how hard you lobby with the party leadership at Delhi, your effort will not succeed if you sit in Hyderabad and do nothing. Sipping Irani chai and eating biryani in Hyderabad and lobbying for tickets at New Delhi will not work,” he said.
Explaining the process of selection of candidates for the next elections, he said: “We are going to take ground-level feedback before giving tickets to anyone. We give preference only to those who fight on behalf of the farmers, youth, workers, small businessmen and the poor. If you don’t work, no matter how senior you are you would not get party nomination to contest in the elections.”
Rahul pointed out that it was the party leaders’ responsibility to make the contents of the Warangal Declaration with minute details familiar to the farmers.
“When I come back next time, whoever I interact with, whether it is a 12-year-old boy or an adult, he should be able to explain to me what the declaration stood for,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Rahul visited 18 NSUI activists in Chanchalguda Jail. The activists have been lodged there after their arrest for taking part in agitations.
He also met several others who took part in people’s movements in the past at Hotel Taj Krishna, where he was staying.
The activists included Prof G Haragopal, revolutionary singer Vimalakka, balladeer Gaddar, Gade Innaiah, Professor Kancha Ilaiah and Telangana Inti Party (TIP) founder Cheruku Sudhakar and others.
CONTEST FROM HYDERABAD OR MEDAK, OWAISI CHALLENGES RAHUL
HYDERABAD: AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to contest from Hyderabad and Medak in Telangana.
“I am saying that you will now lose from Wayanad too. Come, contest from Hyderabad. Try your luck. You can contest from Medak too,” Owaisi said.
After Rahul said he intends to challenge the ruling TRS and BJP and AIMIM in Telangana, Owaisi on Saturday retorted saying, “Now he (Rahul Gandhi) will lose Wayanad too.”
Owaisi has been a Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad since 2004.
On the other hand, Medak is the seat which former prime minister Indira Gandhi represented in Lok Sabha after winning it in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections.