Azad may replace Khuntia as Congress in-charge in Telangana

​Hyderabad: To strengthen the State Congress ahead of 2019 elections,  AICC high command is contemplating to appoint senior-most leader and AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad as the party’s in-charge in Telangana. 

Party sources said that considering Azad’s close association with  Telangana politics since 2004, the party high command is inclined to depute him as in-charge of the Telangana party affairs. 

Azad has played a key role in bringing the Congress to power for two consecutive terms in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and 2009 under the leadership of former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. It is learnt that Azad will be assigned to stitch an alliance between Congress and other likeminded parties to defeat Telangana Rashtra Samiti in the next elections. 

After TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao floated the idea of creation Federal Front- an alternative to BJP and Congress, the Congress high command decided to give tough fight to Chief Minister  by uniting all anti–KCR forces. 

A final decision on deploying Azad to Telangana will be taken by AICC president Rahul Gandhi in a week or 10 days. Sources said that the senior national leader will hold series of talks with anti-KCR leaders, social and political organisations and bring them under a single roof before the elections.