HYDERABAD: Appealing to party colleagues to work with him in the spirit of ‘adjustment’, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday offered to renounce not just his post but sacrifice his life, if needed, to bring the party to power. His comments came in the wake of a section of dissident leaders skipping the training session despite AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s appeal.
The prominent dissident leaders who were conspicuous by their absence at the training programme included former PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, former deputy CM Damodar Raja Narsimha, TPCC working president T Jayaprakash Reddy, former MP V Hanumantha Rao and AICC Programme Implementation Committee chairman Alleti Maheshwar Reddy.
Those who turned up for the programme were CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC campaign committee chairman Madhu Yaskhi, former MLAs Kodanda Reddy and Konda Surekha. Within a few minutes after Revanth’s comments at the day-long training session on various issues such as Dharani portal, party insurance claim, media, social media and election management, the Congress high command replaced Manickam Tagore as the AICC Telangana in-charge with Manikrao Thakre.
“I have no ego problems. I will continue to work as a soldier under the leadership of the party high command. It doesn’t matter whether I am in this position or not. If the party decides to appoint someone as TPCC president more capable of bringing the party to power in the State than me, I would be more than willing to carry them in a palanquin. Even if my head is severed, I will abide by my words and I mean it,” Revanth declared while addressing the training programme.
Stating that the people merely want Congress leaders to stay united, he said, “Whenever I interact with the public, they say they want nothing but unity among Congress leaders.” He alleged that the media was trying to create divisions among the Congress leaders as per the agenda set by BRS and BJP.
“When some 10 things are done, there is a possibility of one or two going wrong. But, those are not intentional, and not at all to trouble my colleagues,” Revanth clarified, endorsing senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy’s suggestion that “Dil se dil jodo” should be the spirit of the leaders. He also accepted the suggestions given by CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC campaign committee chairman Madhu Yaskhi, and AICC secretary SA Sampath Kumar on strengthening the Congress.
While leaders like Uttam Kumar Reddy and D Sridhar had sought permission earlier to skip the training programme since they had some other programme scheduled, the other absentees did not offer any reasons.
Asserting that the issues in the party were not bigger than the problems being faced by the people under the “rule of BRS”, Revanth said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had won the trust of the people with “beautiful lies”. “Rao has won the trust of almost all sections of the people, making them trust him with a slew of unfulfilled promises,” he observed. The TPCC chief slammed BRS leaders for “depriving” the people of their inherited properties through Dharani portal.
Lashing out at the BRS supremo, Revanth sought to know the stand of the chief minister on the Polavaram project and compensation to displaced Adivasis. He also demanded that the CM clarify his stand on Krishna and Godavari water sharing disputes, Pothireddypadu head regulator project, AP’s claims on electricity charges and other bifurcation issues.“Will you stand by that side or this side, clarify,” he demanded.
Slamming the chief minister for appointing AP cadre officers as Telangana DGP and Chief Secretary, he said, “Even AP rulers will not backstab their people like Rao is doing.”