Rahul Gandhi is upset with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over association with Adani group, conflicting with Congress’s anti-Adani narrative.
New Delhi: After Telangana Chief Minsiter Revanth Reddy hosted Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, one of the top industrialists in the world for donations, the Congress supremo Rahul Gandhi is said to be unhappy with the Telangana Chief Minister.
Moreover, according to party insiders, he has refused to meet the Reddy when he had come to Delhi few days back.
It is believed that Rahul Gandhi is unhappy with Revanth as he had accepted a Rs 100 crore donation from the Adani Group for establishing a skills university in Telangana (which he later announced to return) which Congress leaders think showed disregard towards Rahul Gandhi’s narrative building against Adani in the Parliament.
A political observer said, “Rahul Gandhi has been vocal in his criticism of Adani and his alleged business malpractices. And now a Congress chief minister is taking photographs with Adani, what message does it send? Either Revanth is not with what Rahul, which means that Revanth is too bold and cannot be reigned by anyone, not even the high command. Secondly, the Gandhi scion cannot manage discipline in his own party therefore how can he be able to take the leadership of the opposition bloc. The own party members of Rahul Gandhi are diluting his narrative and he is blaming EVMs for their consistent defeats.”
A Congress leader remarked in an interview with The Sunday Guardian, “If the Telangana CM would have met Rahul there would have been a photograph of them together in public. But since a long time there is no photograph of them together.”
However, an office bearer of the Congress in Telangana said, “The Chief Minister was there to discuss cabinet expansion and filling of nominated posts with the high command during his Delhi visit. Revanth had to attended a function first in Jaipur and then he went to Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi. But there was no such particular schedule conveyed by Reddy to Rahul’s office which would have allowed Rahul Gandhi to plan a meeting with him. Rahul was busy with parliament elections. And therefore could not manage to meet him. That is the main reason why he didn’t meet Reddy.”
If sources are to be believed Revanth could not meet anyone in the top party leadership. The whole functioning, according to party leaders, suggests a complex interplay of ideological differences, communication gaps, and internal party politics. Which is contributing to the strange relationship between Revanth Reddy and the Congress high command.
A section of Congress leaders also claim that the party unit in Telangana is facing internal dissent, as some state Congress leaders have already approached Sonia Gandhi conveying her to keep the chief minister in check in order to secure the future existence of the party.
The Sunday Guardian tried to get in touch with the Telangana Congress unit general secretary incharge Deepa Das Munshi, however there was no response from her.
According to two Congress leaders, she has sided with Revanth and may not give proper feedback of the state to the high command. A political analyst closely tracking national politics and Congress leadership said, “The Congress party has lost its control over the regional sartraps, if Rahul has refused to meet a chief minister of his party, it talks a lot about how he is managing his party. And it is not a good sign at all. A politician is one who doesn’t let another person know whether you like his or not. But Rahul immediately sidelines a person if he doesn’t like him. The party should revisit its leadership role in order to progressively manage the party.”