‘Haath Se Haath Jodo’ to Telangana Congress Chhodo: The Insider-Migrant Fight is Out in the Open

Barely two months after Rahul Gandhi visited Telangana for his Bharat Jodo Yatra, internal rift is tearing the Telangana Congress apart.

In the latest development, 12 leaders on Monday resigned from various Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) posts, stating they did not want infighting to mar the image of the party. The resignations came after senior leaders skipped ‘Haath Se Haath Jodo’ programme presided over by Telangana PCC chief Revanth Reddy on Sunday. In a combined resignation letter which they sent to AICC incharge of Telangana, Manickam Tagore, the leaders stated that they were quitting the posts to bring unity to the party.

The unit is now split into two groups – original Congress leaders and migrant Congress leaders. The latter is the term used for the ones who defected from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and are considered to be supporters of Reddy.

Revanth had joined the Congress after resigning from the TDP.

HOW THE DRAMA UNFOLDED

The saga began on December 10 when the All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced various committees for the party. They included Pradesh Executive Committee, Political Affairs Committee, District Congress Committee and others. The composition of the committees left many senior leaders miffed as they did not find a place there. They said that loyalists were ignored while making the panels.

On December 13, the police raided a Congress social media war room run by Sunil Kanugolu for making ‘derogatory’ posts against chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).

On December 17, senior Congress leader and Nalgonda MP, Uttam Kumar Reddy, made heads turn by alleging the material seized by police consisted of many objectionable posts against senior Congress leaders. Supported by senior leaders like T Jagga Reddy, Damodar Raja Narasimha, M Kodanda Reddy and Madhu Goud Yaskhi, the Nalgonda MP announced that they will soon launch a ‘Save Congress’ campaign. Uttam said that 54 members in the newly formed committees had crossed over from TDP, and loyalists who had worked for the party for 40 years had been ignored.

THE GROUSE

A senior Congress leader told News18: “Since Revanth Reddy took over, his group has been posting on social media against their own party leaders. He has not taken any action against them. He does not work in the interest of the party. Last year, Bhatti Vikramarka attended an all-party meeting called by KCR. Before that, the party’s stand on the issue was discussed with Revanth. However, when media reports emerged after the meeting which alleged that Vikramarka had met KCR because he was unhappy in the Congress, Revanth did not bother to clarify. These activities malign the party image."

“How are we going to get power if there is such fighting in the party? It does not matter who is the PCC president. He has been in the post for 1.5 years, that’s fine. The party has given so much to him in four years. He forgets that he is the head of the family, not a faction leader. Recently, his name came up in the liquor scam, too, where it was found that he and TRS MLC Kavitha are the directors of a company embroiled in the case," he added.

“We have already complained to the High Command. Action is awaited," he said.​

Read all the Latest Politics News here