Congress trying hard to keep its flock together

Khammam: With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi tightening its noose around the Congress with Operation Akarsh, the grand old party is trying hard to keep its flock of MLAs together.

In the Assembly elections held last December, the Congress waved its flag high in erstwhile Khammam district by winning eight of the 10 constituencies along with Telugu Desam Party. However, its joy was short lived as two of its MLAs from Pinapaka and Yellandu, Rega Kantha Rao and Banothu Haripriya, have openly declared their interest to join the pink party. Earlier, independent MLA Ramulu Naik from Wyra constituency joined the party, and TDP MLA from Sathupalli Sandra Venkata Veerayya too announced that he would join the TRS soon.

To contain the migrations, the Congress party is now focusing on convincing its MLAs to stay in the party rather than selecting the MP candidate for the upcoming elections. As Khammam district is the only remaining stronghold of Congress in the State, it is determined to strengthen its power at ground level and try to succeed in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Although it has lost several of its leaders to TRS, the Congress is confident that the cadre at the ground level is still loyal to the party.

During campaign, it is likely to focus on internal conflicts in the TRS party and its Operation Akarsh. Further, it is learnt that the Congress party is also trying to get TDP Politburo member Nama Nageswara Rao into the party by offering an MP ticket with the hope that he would be able to succeed with support of both Congress and TDP besides votes from Kamma community.