Congress faces hurdles to play its BC card

Hyderabad: All is not well in the Telangana Congress. The cold war between BC leaders (Backward Classes) and Reddy community appears to have reached a peak in Congress ahead of the state Assembly elections.

It may be recalled that the Congress high command had announced that it would give assembly tickets to BC candidates in each Lok Sabha constituency and wants to use the BC card as one of its main planks to take on the BRS. But this proposal seems to have led to some trouble in about 40 assembly constituencies.

Leaders said that some influential Reddy leaders were facing difficulties to get the party ticket in the ensuing elections after BC leaders entered the fray. The State Screening Committee held a series of meetings with the Central steering committee in New Delhi recently and reviewed the winning prospects of the BC leaders in the Reddy dominated areas.

Some Reddy leaders in the screening committee reportedly told the high command that BC leaders in their Lok Sabha constituencies were not strong enough to win the elections and it would only help the BRS. This led to sort of raising a banner of revolt by some senior BC leaders.

Former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah has been demanding a ticket to contest from the Jangaon assembly constituency. But the party leadership is learnt to be inclined to allot the seat to senior leader K Pratap Reddy. Lakshmaiah opposed this move and registered his protest with AICC chief Mallikarjuna Kharge. He said that being a former minister and PCC president, his application should be considered under the BC quota.

Another senior leader Madhu Yashki Goud was expecting a ticket to contest from LB Nagar. In the meantime, senior leader Malreddy Rangareddy claimed that the party had confirmed the ticket to him. Reddy is maintaining close relations with TPCC Chief A Revanth Reddy. The BC leaders were demanding 40 assembly seats from constituencies which are dominated by Gouds, Yadavas, Padmashalis and Munnuru Kapus, Lakshmaiah said. The party leadership was maintaining that though the Congress is committed to accord priority to BCs the high command will also take into consideration the winning prospects of the aspirants from the backward communities.

Sources said that the party leadership was waiting for the latest survey reports which were being prepared by AICC Consultant Sunil Kanugolu to ascertain the winning prospects of the aspirant BC leaders, including Ponnam Prabhakar, TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud, Anjan Kumar Yadav and others.