After the resignation of TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, taking responsibility for the party’s debacle in the recent GHMC polls, the exercise for picking up the new Congress chief began on Wednesday with AICC in-charge Manickam Tagore eliciting individual opinions of senior Congress leaders.
The three-day exercise will include personal interactions with Members of Parliament, MLAs, MLCs, former PCC chiefs, former parliamentarians, District Congress Committee leaders and key persons of all frontal organisations of the party. Mr. Tagore will confine himself to seeking the opinions and submitting a report to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, who will take the final call.
Despite the party faring quite badly in the last few elections, the race for the top post in the State is pretty strong with almost every leader claiming it. A senior leader confided that nearly 100 people want to try their luck. “I have received applications from DCC presidents and several party functionaries not so active in politics as well,” a top TPCC functionary told The Hindu.
A DCC president from North Telangana district, requesting anonymity, said, “When everyone is in the race, why can’t I try my luck. After all I served the party for more than 20 years since my student days.” Seniors who have lost consecutive elections too, want to throw their hat in the ring.
The vacancy existed ever since Mr. Uttam sent his resignation to the High Command after the loss of Huzurnagar by-poll. All top leaders have been making their efforts. According to party sources, strong contenders include TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy, Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka and Manthani MLA D. Sreedhar Babu.
However, seniors like Sangareddy MLA T. Jayaprakash Reddy, AICC secretary Madhu Yashki and TPCC working president Ponnam Prabhakar never hid their intentions to lead the party. Former Ministers T. Jeevan Reddy and G. Chinna Reddy are staking their claim albeit discreetly. Former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha too has the experience and seniority. AICC secretary Sampath Kumar also sounded that he is in the fray.
The caste combinations will come into play apart from the acceptability factor while choosing the new chief. The very idea of Mr. Tagore spending three days to have wider consultations is an indicator of how tough the choice is going to be. He will weigh the pros and cons of each individual in his final report to the AICC president.
Mr. Tagore indicated that the final announcement will take three to four weeks depending on Ms. Gandhi’s time.
Campaign Committee chairman
Mr. Tagore is also likely to focus on the chairman of Campaign Committee that has equal importance in Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s scheme of things. So, the post will go to one among the three top contenders that the party is likely to figure out. Among the remaining two, one will be the PCC chief and the other will be accommodated at the national level.
A senior leader close to the Delhi leadership said that the party is definitely looking for an aggressive leader who can rejuvenate the cadre that is suffering with low confidence now. The emergence of the BJP and its aggression in taking on the TRS government also has to be matched if the party has to stop its cadre from looking at the BJP as an alternative.
