Hyderabad: Local Congress leaders demand coordinators in Assembly segments

Hyderabad: The local leaders of the constituencies where Congress MLAs and contestants joined other parties are demanding the PCC to appoint coordinators so that they can take up party activities.

These leaders are expressing their dissent over the delay in taking up the organisational issues.

About 12 MLAs and 18 contested candidates of Congress joined TRS and BJP last year. The Congress won 19 Assembly seats in the State Assembly elections in 2018.

The MLAs who won on behalf of Congress in those elections Atram Sakku (Asifabad), J Surendar (Yella Reddy), D Sudheer Reddy (LB Nagar), Rohit Reddy (Tandur), B Harshavardhan Reddy (Kollapur), Ch Lingaiah (Nakirekal), G Venkata Ramana Reddy (Bhupalapalli), R Kantha Rao (Pinapaka), B Haripriya (Yellendu), K Upendar Reddy (Palair), and Sabitha Reddy (Chevella) have defected to TRS.

Contested candidates like DK Aruna (Gadwal), Biksamaiah Goud (Bhongiri) and other 16 have shifted their loyalties to TRS or BJP. Aruna joined BJP soon after her defeat in the 2018 Assembly elections.

Usually the MLAs or the contested candidates of the party would lead the organisation in their respective constituency. They would take care of all activities of the party in their respective constituencies.

However, after the defeat in 2018 elections, the Pradesh Congress Committee took no steps to appoint coordinators in these constituencies even though the party faced local body and Parliament elections.

This reflected on poll results as the party lost parliamentary, rural and urban local bodies' polls. Sources in the party said that the PCC is yet to focus on these constituencies as it was busy with dealing the series of polls.

At the same time, the PCC is in confusion over the issue of its president. The sources said that at present party MPs and contested candidates of Parliamentary constituencies are taking care of the Assembly constituencies which do not have leaders.

MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is taking care of Nakirekal, MP A Revant Reddy is looking after LB Nagar and contested candidate of Chevella PC Visweswar Reddy is coordinating the affairs in Maheswaram Assembly constituency.

But local leaders of these Assembly constituencies say that they want appointment of a competent leader as coordinator so that they would run the activities of the party.