Left parties stake stalls Cong’s 2nd list
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge during the Congress Election Committee meeting for the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections, at the AICC Headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday
Hyderabad: The steering committee of the Congress high command will be meeting on Thursday to finalise and announce the second list. While the steering committee is trying for consensus to avoid any dissension, some of the aspirants who do not want to give up so easily have intensified their lobbying in New Delhi.
The party's Central Election Committee chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, which was attended by former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, besides members of the Committee and Telangana leaders, including PCC chief A Revanth Reddy, N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Bhatti Vikramarka held talks with the two left party’s CPM and CPI.
It is learnt that the CPM was demanding Miryalaguda and Munugodu and the CPI wanted to fight from Kothagudem and Bellampally. Sources said that Congress was not ready to give two seats each to the left parties. Senior party leader K Jana Reddy has staked his claim for the Miryalaguda seat for his son. On the other hand, in an act of ‘Ghar Wapsi,’ Komati Reddy Rajagopal Reddy quit BJP and re-joined Congress party and is demanding Munugodu Assembly seat.
It remains to be seen whether the party will field Reddy or yield to the CPM demand.
On the other hand, Telangana Youth Congress leader Shiv Sena Reddy was demanding ticket to contest from Wanaparti and former minister G Chinna Reddy is also vying for the ticket from the same segment from where he was elected MLA and held several ministerial portfolios in the united Andhra Pradesh.
Shiv Sena Reddy was summoned to New Delhi to convince him by the party high command. However, the Youth Congress leader was unrelenting. Another senior leader Madhu Yashki Goud was seeking a ticket from LB Nagar and former MLA Malreddy Ranga Reddy was also in the race for the same seat. Sources said that neither of the two leaders was in a mood to withdraw their application for a ticket.
The CEC meeting, chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, discussed the challenges faced by the party and hence the steering committee has decided to meet again on Thursday to finalise the list. It is learnt that the CEC has finalised names for 50 more constituencies and would be taking a final for another 15 seats which would include the seats to be given to the two left parties.