Cong wooing back party cadres

Congress leaders eyeing candidates who joined the TRS to strengthen their base at constituency level

Nalgonda: Group politics at the district level is forcing defected Congress leaders to rejoin their old organisations. Congress leaders K Jana Reddy, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and N Uttam Kumar Reddy are leaving no stone unturned to bring back the party cadres to the party.

Jana Reddy moved pawns carefully on the political chessboard in his Nagarjunasagar Assembly constituency to bring back ZPTC vice-chairman, Pedavoora ZPTC Karnati Linga Reddy, several sarpanches and MPTCs. Last month, they rejoined the Congress in the presence of Jana Reddy. They, along with Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy, had earlier moved from the TRS to the Congress.

In Nalgonda Assembly constituency, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy undertook a similar exercise to bring back three municipal councillors who had left the party to join the TRS. Municipal chairperson Boddupalli Lakshmi Srinivas, who joined TRS in the presence of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, is now seen taking part in various programmes by the Congress along with Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, even though she is not an official member of the Congress.

Telangana Congress leaders took steps to ensure that tribal leader and Damaracharla ZPTC Sankar Naik along with several other representatives joined the Congress in the presence of Jana Reddy at a public meeting held recently. Speaking to The Hans India on Monday, ZPTC Shankar Naik said that he was not considering the TRS as a party. He further added that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was betraying people with his magic words. He expressed his happiness on rejoining the Congress which elevated him as one of the main tribe leaders in the constituency and district.

He further predicted that most of the defected Congress leaders who were forced to stay in the ruling party would rejoin
Congress six months prior to elections. N Uttam Kumar Reddy and his spouse and Huzurnagar MLA Padmavati, are frequently visiting Kodad and Huzurnagar constituencies to meet the erstwhile party activists, who worked for the Congress earlier and are now TRS members. Padmavati has also visited bereaved party activists’ families and activists admitted to hospital for treatment.
The Congress leaders are busy strengthening the cadres in their respective assembly constituencies since they believe that a strong base in the constituency will ensure safety of their power.