HYDERABAD: The Congress is leaving no stone unturned to win the upcoming Assembly elections. Towards this end, it is meticulously working on each and every segment before allotting the tickets. At present, the party is focused on the selection of nominees for the remaining 19 segments, and re-evaluating the electoral prospects of its nominees in the segments for which it has already announced the candidates.
The leadership has managed to persuade Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) to unconditionally support the grand old party in the electoral fight. As part of its exercise, after inducting former MLA and a strong leader Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, the Congress has managed to land former MP G Vivek Venkataswamy, a prominent figure within the BJP. He was instrumental in drafting the saffron party’s manifesto. Rahul Gandhi personally telephoned Vivek, inviting him to the party, following which the latter joined the grand old party on Wednesday.
Recognising its relative weakness in the erstwhile Karimnagar region, the Congress has strategically improved its prospects by landing the big fish Vivek. A lot of behind-the-scenes work went into the efforts to poach him successfully. The party finally offered Chennur Assembly ticket to his son Vamshi and proposed the Peddapalli Lok Sabha ticket for Vivek in the upcoming general elections.
TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy revealed that AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, and several other leaders have been asking Vivek to join the Congress ranks. In fact, the Congress has put the potential alliance with the communist party at stake by inducting Vivek, as they offered Chennur Assembly segment to his family, which was earlier offered to CPI.
According to the sources, the saffron party is currently working on landing a few more leaders from the ruling BRS and BJP. It remains to be seen to what extent the party would succeed in its endeavour.