KCR targets YSR loyalists in Congress?

​Hyderabad:  The fresh round of ‘Operation Akarsh’, kickstarted by TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, has targeted Telangana Congress senior leaders, particularly those who were loyal to former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy during his heydays in the Congress regime between 2004-09 in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state. 

The fresh exit of senior leader Danam Nagendar, who maintained a strong cadre in the Greater Hyderabad limits, from the Congress and the speculations doing rounds that another senior Congress leader and former minister Mukesh Goud and farmer HUDA chairman and LB Nagar MLA G Sudhir Reddy will also follow suit, gave a clear indication that KCR has plans to poach the leaders who were at the helm during the YSR regime.  

Nagendar and Mukesh were ministers in the YSR government and Sudhir Reddy was HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) chairman. In fact, Reddy was the first leader nominated to the post in the entire AP in the YSR government. Taking advantage of the internal squabbles among the leaders, particularly TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and other senior leaders who were close to YSR earlier, the TRS supremo held secret talks with several leaders and invited them to join his party.  Senior leader and MLA DK Aruna was also contacted and was offered big post if joined the TRS before 2019 elections.  Aruna was opposing Uttam’s leadership and demanding TPCC chief post claiming she was senior to the incumbent TPCC president. 

Along with Aruna, another leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy also raised a banner of revolt against the party leadership.  Both the leaders were strong followers of YSR and the duo were also ministers in the departed Congress leader’s government. Komatireddy himself had openly claimed that TRS leaders were in touch with him.   Another senior most leader in the TS Congress Damodara Rajanarasimha has also been inactive in the party in the recent months.  

Political circles are agog with a talk that Rajanarasimha, who was also a YSR supporter, was contacted by the TRS leadership. However, he did not respond to the offer positively till date.  The ruling party leaders were also in touch with second-rung Congress leaders and the beneficiaries in the YSR government.  A majority of  them are from South Telangana districts of old Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts. 

The other Congress leaders – Gandra Venkataramana Reddy (Warangal), Sunitha Laxma Reddy (Medak), P  Sudarshan Reddy (Nizamabad),  Sambani Chandrashekhar (Khammam),  K Srisailam Goud (Hyderabad) were also contacted by the TRS.   The TRS leaders said most of the Congress leaders promoted by YSR were maintaining strong cadre in their respective Assembly constituencies in Telangana since 2004. The joining of these leaders in the TRS will consolidate the party and help TRS win without big competition from the rivals in the 2019 elections. 

The TRS has already poached the Congress MLAs - DS Reddya Naik (Dornakal district), Yadaiah (Chevella), Vithal Reddy (Mudhole), P Ajay Kumar (Khammam), Kanakaiah (Yellandu) and Ch Rammohan Reddy (Makthal) and senior leader D Srinivas, etc. In the resumed Operation Akarsh, KCR has targeted to poach many senior leaders and allot them party tickets for the 2019 Assembly elections.