Telangana Congress to release SC/ST Declaration on 26 August; minority, OBC, women declarations to follow

He met journalists after a party meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, the Congress’s state headquarters.

AICC Telangana in-charge Manikrao Thakre, MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, AICC secretary D Sridhar Babu, Campaign Committee chairman Madhu Yashki Goud, working presidents Mahesh Kumar Goud, Anjan Kumar Yadav, Mohammad Azharuddin, leaders Ponnam Prabhakar, Vem Narender Reddy, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, and H Venugopal were among those who attended the meeting.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi sounds Congress poll bugle in Telangana

Slogan for poll campaign

Revanth Reddy urged party workers to make the meeting a grand success like the Khammam meeting, which senior party leader Rahul Gandhi attended on 2 July.

The TNCC chief also exhorted workers to take to the people the party’s Assembly election campaign under the slogan Tiragabadadam-Tarimikodadaam (Revolt, Drive Out).

“The campaign should reach every household in the state. We have appointed coordinators to ensure the implementation of this crucial part of the campaign,” he said. Telangana would elect its third Assembly this year-end.

The TPCC also has plans to release the minorities’ declaration on 29 August at Warangal. A sub-committee would be constituted to draft the OBC and Mahila declarations. “We are inviting Priyanka Gandhi to release the women’s declaration,” Revanth Reddy said.

He said that the party would invite the top leader, Sonia Gandhi, to release the election manifesto.

Meanwhile, the Congress has been warming up to the Backward Classes (BCs). It might hold the BC Garjana either on 6 or 9 September.

Also read: BRS powers ahead on Telangana campaign track

Siddaramaiah to attend BC Garjana

According to former PCC president V Hanumantha Rao, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah would attend the BC Garjana to be held at Shadnagar. The Congress has been trying to woo the BCs, who constitute a crucial constituency.

Hanumantha Rao, a BC leader, said that Rahul Gandhi and Kharge had assured him of allotting party tickets to the BCs, commensurate with their population.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, 19 August, he said that as the BCs constitute 54 percent of the population, they should be awarded more tickets to contest the polls.

Hanumantha Rao claimed that the party would mobilise three lakh people for the BC Garjana Sabha, which he said would inject a large dose of adrenalin into the veins of the party workers.

He said BC meetings were already held in 10 districts. “The BC Garjana will do a whale of good for the party,” Hanunatha Rao claimed.

Also read: Modi presses a button to pass bills and KCR reacts like a bulb: Rahul Gandhi

Shortage of BC leaders

However, the Congress cannot boast of having powerful BC leaders while the BJP has quite a few, including Huzruabad MLA Etala Rajender (Mudiraju), Dharmapuri Arvind, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, and Dr K Laxman (all Munnuru Kapus).

Though Arvind’s father D Srinivas, who was once a powerful Munnuru Kapu leader in the Congress, was about to return to the Congress from the BRS recently, he put it on hold at the eleventh hour due to “domestic issues”.

He left the Congress in 2015 after the party’s debacle in the 2014 elections and joined the BRS. In 2016, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao sent him to the Upper House but later sidelined him for his “anti-party activities”.

The other BC leaders in the Congress, Ponnala Lakhsmiah and Hanumatha Rao, do not have the advantage of age while the Konda couple, Surekha and Murali, are yet to become active in electioneering.

The BRS has a battery of BC leaders. They include BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar, MP Vaddi Raju Ravi Chandra, MLAs Jogu Ramanna, Danam Nagender, Vanama Venkateswar Rao, Jajula Surender, Korukanti Chander, Peddapalli Zilla Panchayat Chairman Putta Madhu and MLC Dande Vital.