NEW DELHI: After Telangana’s 2024 Lok Sabha elections, top Congress leaders seek appointments from CM Revanth Reddy, favouring ex-TDP members over longstanding Congress loyalists.
With the end of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, around half a dozen top Congress leaders in the state have activated their political channels to reach out to the chief minister, Revanth Reddy for appointment on vacant nominated posts, including state government-run corporations. There are 37 such positions available in the state.
A Congress ex-MLA told The Sunday Guardian, “The first appointments had led to resentment among some state leaders who felt that they were not kept in the loop. Several ministers were unhappy that Revanth Reddy had not consulted them before making the appointments. Right now there is an election code of conduct in place and the appointments cannot be made. So the next 15 vacant posts will be nominated after the election results. “
Congress leaders in the state believe that several of the nominated positions are expected to go to those who have come into the party from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and are close to Revanth Reddy. The others who have started their career with Congress and remained in it had little to no chance.
A senior TDP leader in the state said, “When Revanth left TDP in 2017, there were around a dozen ex-MLAs from the party who followed his lead and joined the Congress. And when the assembly elections happened last time, our party leaders helped the Congress party on the ground. As there was no alliance with BJP at that time. So he is identified as a TDP guy because he has spent a lot of time in the party before Congress.”
According to political analysts, there is no such leader in Congress who is on an equal footing with Revanth Reddy. Therefore even if someone harbours resentment against him, one may not be able to create a platform that can reduce the clout of the CM.
Another political analyst said, “If we see other states in India that have strong Congress cadres, there is factionalism everywhere, and at least two strong leaders are competing. The same is not the case with Telangana, Revanth is a young and able leader. He could soon develop a strong unshakable base for himself and subsequently become a massist leader like Siddaramaiah or Sachin Pilot. His focus is to know who to keep happy and who to keep in check. On the other hand, if we see BJP now, picking up the issue of Uttam Reddy being given the second-half term of chief minister won’t change anything in the Congress. Everyone seems to have accepted their respective roles under Revanth.”
The party is, according to leaders, planning to also prioritise leaders from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Backward Class (BC) communities for these appointments. The initial list of appointments includes several prominent leaders from the party’s frontal organisations such as Youth Congress state president K Shivasena Reddy, SC cell chairman N Preetham, BC cell chairman N Srikanth, disability cell chairman M Veeraiah and fisheries cell chairman Mettu Saikumar.