Congress leaders seek change of guard in Telangana

Hyderabad: As an outcome of AICC meeting which ruffled the feathers of the Gandhi Family, seniors in the party held that amongst the next step for the high command would be change of guard in some States including Telangana.

Citing there are enough indications in the resolution of CWC, some senior Congress leaders raised voice of revamping the party within the State and backed change of leadership in Telangana.

Party senior leaders who spoke to The Hans India, pointed out that as an outcome of the Monday's CWC meeting, the party high command may change the leadership of some of the States. Given the CWC authorisation to the Congress president to 'effect necessary organisational changes, it is most likely that the AICC would take a call in the coming months and even Telangana would witness change in the guard.

Congress leaders opined that now the States where changes are due or deem necessary would be taken up by the high command. They also pointed out that change in the TPCC leadership is overdue as N Uttam Kumar Reddy has been serving as TPCC president for over five and half years. Whole cycle of elections has taken up in his tenure from village level to Parliament level. "Sachin Pilot after returning to party expressed concern that when Ashok Gehlot was CM, the party lost twice. In Rajasthan, the party is in government and is apprehensive about not fulfilling the promises and may lose next time," said former Minister, Marri Shashidhar Reddy.

"In Telangana we have been losing election after election at all levels and it is high time we start thinking about the next election and it is nothing personal about anyone. In the interest of the party, AICC should take note and start preparing for the next election. We cannot afford to lose another Assembly election," Shashidhar Reddy added.

Being a leader who has been advocating Kamaraj 2.0, (K Kamaraj, former CM of Tamil Nadu and known as the kingmaker of Indian politics), Reddy held that the AICC president should be given free hand in reorganising and revamping the party, just like major shakeup during Nehru's time on advice of Kamaraj.

Some other leaders also felt that the State leadership should be changed within 5 years, particularly when the expected results were not seen. They emphasized that the BJP was attempting to fill in the vacuum. "It is imperative to strengthen the party in the State, as BJP's polarisation tactics with the help of MIM may have an impact in the next Assembly elections," said another senior leader, on the condition of anonymity.