Sans leader, Congress rudderless in district

Kothagudem: The Congress workers are demanding the State party high command to appoint a president of the district unit as it has been headless for several months since the death of the incumbent DCC chief.

According to them, it is the second time district unit of the party is going to polls without the unit president and have no strategy for polls in the district. 

In fact, in the united Khammam district, Congress had very powerful leadership. It had firebrand leaders like Renuka Chowdary, Mallu Batti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, former minister Sambhani Chandra Shekar and Vanama Venkateswa Rao in the district. 

But nowadays the Kothagudem unit of the party has no captain to lead the party in the elections.  Since the death of the District Congress Committee president I Satyam few months ago, the post has been lying vacant till now. TPCC has not appointed a president of the unit yet.

TPCC tried to appoint the post and conducted meetings but the leaders raised their hands.  It is said that the TPCC publicity chairman Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is not interested in filling the post of the DCC president. 

Some leaders said that due to the group politics, the party has not appointed the chief of the district unit.  But since the Assembly elections are not very far, it needs a unit president who can lead the party to victory.  

According to the local Congress workers, the same situations had prevailed during the elections of the 2014.  The party senior leader and former minister Vanama Venkateswara Rao was the district chief of the party in 2014.

The party allotted the Kothagudem Assembly seat to the alliance partner CPI.  For that reason he resigned the post and party also. Thus, in 2014 elections also the party worked without a district president. 

The same situation is being repeated in this election season also. After the death of the district party chief I Satyam, the party has not appointed a president of the district unit. 

The party leaders and followers asked the Pradesh Congress Committee to appoint the district party chief to draw strategy for the upcoming elections and fulfil the aim of defeating the TRS at the hustings.