Uttam Kumar Reddy to brief Sonia on bypoll defeat

Hyderabad: Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy is likely to submit a report to party president Sonia Gandhi on the result of the Huzurnagar by-election.

Uttam left for Delhi on Friday to attend a Parliament Committee meeting and he is likely to meet Sonia Gandhi. He may inform the reasons behind the defeat of the party in the by-poll.

Sources in the party said that Uttam may tell the party chief to find a replacement for him. The sources said that the Congress president may ask Uttam to continue till the end of the municipal elections.

Congress leaders said that the PCC chief would explain reasons that have led to the defeat of the party. He would also inform Sonia about the change of political equations of the State after the by-election.

Party leaders said that though there was an anti-establishment mood in the constituency, the TRS had bribed the voters in a big way. They alleged that each voter has been given up to Rs 2,000 in cash, each house was given a kilo meat and also supplied liquor at free of cost to the voters.

The TRS leaders have given money even to the local Congress leaders in the constituency and neutralised them. The Congress functionaries have been restricted from working for the party candidate. On the other hand, the other parties in the fray, Telugu Desam and BJP have failed to show any impact in the by-poll. The BJP got 2,000 votes and the Telugu Desam secured 1,500 votes.

Though the Congress expected that the BJP would eat into the votes of the ruling party, no such development has taken place. Even, the BJP failed to get the votes that it had secured in the previous general elections to Assembly.

The Congress leaders opined that the BJP which has boasted of itself as the only alternative to the ruling TRS in the State has bitten the dust. They said that the BJP which has won four seats in the previous Parliament elections has felt that people of the State have turned in its favour and they would form the next government in the State.