Nine from Nellore get All India Congress Committee berth

Nellore: Congress leaders in the district are on cloud nine as nine members have been inducted into the All India Congress Committee (AICC) giving a big respite to them as the party faced severe leadership crisis for some time after senior leaders shifted their loyalties to the ruling party and others.

Former Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi, her husband and District Congress Committee president Panabaka Krishnaiah, PCC Vice-Presidents C V Sesha Reddy, Ch Devakumar Reddy, PCC General Secretary P Chenchalbabu Yadav and Ravichandra Reddy, DCC Vice-President P Sitarambabu, Seva Dal district president Bhavani Nagendra Prasad, and president of the district minority cell Jahangir were among them. 

“This is a history in the district from which 9 have been inducted into the top-level committee of the party. We are so happy, and this indicates more responsibility on us to work for the party with rededication. The newly elected members will participate in the party plenary in New Delhi on March 17 and 18,” said P Krishnaiah. 

In fact, the party had faced leadership crisis where senior leaders of the party shifted their loyalties to Telugu Desam and YSRCP and very few leaders were managing to show off their existence with trivial activities for some time in the district. Basically, senior leaders in the Congress party Anam brothers-Ramanarayana Reddy and Vivekananda Reddy-had joined the ruling TDP a couple of years ago and their brother Vijayakumar Reddy also joined the YSRCP with his son Karthik Reddy. 

Ramanarayana Reddy was Minister during the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh from 2004-2014 and also handled the Finance Minister portfolio in N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s cabinet just before bifurcation.

Anam family, which has strong hold in the district, gained political benefits when YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister. After shifting their loyalties to the ruling party, other leaders had to shoulder the responsibility of organising activities.

Panabaka has strong hold in the party since his wife was Union Minister in Congress government. With induction of majority members into the AICC, now leaders are ecstatic expressing their gratitude to the party high command.