Congress cadres upbeat after Dalit Dandora

Khammam: The success of Dalit Tribal Dandora at Indravelly has boosted the morale of Congress party rank and file of the erstwhile Khammam district. Large number of party leaders and activists of the district had attended the programme, the first public meeting organised by the Congress after A Revanth Reddy took charge as TPCC president.

The leaders, who attended the programme, expressed confidence that the party, led by Revanth Reddy, will come to power in 2023 elections.

Congress has a strong hold in the erstwhile Khammam district, which has seven MLA seats out of the ten. But after winning the elections, all the Congress MLAs, except Madhira and Bhadrachalam, had joined the ruling TRS.

In the recent Khammam corporation elections also, the party had won 10 corporator posts, which once again proved Congress strength in Khammam district. District party leaders and activists asked the TPCC president to organise a meeting in the district like the one held in Indravelli. On the other hand, tribal leaders were happy for giving importance to Mulugu MLA Seethakka during the meeting. MLA Seethakka, a tribal MLA, had presided over the Indravelli meeting and gave good speech, which attracted one and all.

Tribal leaders attended in large numbers and noted that the issues of podu lands will be solved only by the Congress government. The TRS government was not showing any interest on tribal development, they alleged.

"Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has promised to give podu land pattas after coming to power, at Kothagudem public meeting during 2018 elections. Even after completing three years in rule, the CM didn't raise the topic till date," they pointed out.

A tribal leader, P Krishna, demanded the elected Congress tribal MLAs (now in the TRS) to resign to their posts immediately and try to solve podu land Issues.

Stating that the TRS government had announced Dalit Bandhu and other schemes after Minister Eatala Rajender had resigned, he asked all the tribal MLAs to resign. Only then the CM may solve podu land patta issues, which have been pending for several years, he stated.

Krishna asserted that marginalised sections will get justice under the regime of Congress party only. Recalling the statement of the TRS MLAs that they joined the ruling TRS to solve tribal issues and to develop the constituency, he criticised that after joining the ruling party, these MLAs were enjoying their powers.