Allies CPI and Telangana Jana Samithi rebelled against Congress.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi rushed his emissary, AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu to seek his support to solve the chaotic situation in the allotment of tickets in the Telangana Assembly elections. The chaos is caused by rebellion from the allies, the CPI and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS).
Congress wanted to release its first list of candidates by 9 November, but now is not in a position to do it even by Sunday, even as filing of nominations begins on Monday. The party has not yet finalised the quota of seats to be given to the allies, whereas ruling TRS and BJP have almost declared their candidates and swung into the campaign mode.
The Congress election committee held its meeting at the residence of Sonia Gandhi on 8 November, but couldn’t come to a conclusion due to differences among the allies on the number of seats to be contested by each of them, as well as internal dissidence from various pressure groups like OBCs etc.
Gehlot, who arrived at Vijayawada on Saturday afternoon, called on CM Naidu at his official residence in Amaravati in the evening and held talks to contain discontent among the allies, especially the CPI and TJS in Telangana. Gehlot, who came as the emissary of Rahul Gandhi, also showed Naidu the list of Congress candidates for Telangana, according to Congress sources.
In Telangana, Congress has formed a Maha Kutami (Grand Alliance), including TDP, TJS and CPI, to take on the ruling TRS. After much bargaining, of the total 119 Assembly seats, Congress offered 14 to TDP, eight to TJS and three to CPI, keeping the remaining 94 for itself. However, the CPI, which sought at least eight seats, has announced candidates for five seats and threatened to walk out of the alliance.
Similarly, the Prof Kodandaram-led TJS insisted on at least 14 seats and made it clear that nothing short of that number would be acceptable to it. TDP is the only ally, which has not created any trouble to the Congress and is content with the 14 offered to it. Meanwhile, two more parties—Indian Muslim League and Telanana Inti Party—too came forward to join the alliance and sought one seat each.
This has created a piquant situation for the Congress leadership. On the one hand, Rahul Gandhi is keen on taking as many allies as possible into the alliance, and on the other hand, there are no seats to be allotted to any allies due to heavy competition from within the party to all the available seats. AICC-in-charge R.C. Khuntia has thrown up his hands to adjust the competing demands from allies and own party leaders.
TJS chief Kodandaram insisted and got the Jangaon Assembly seat, triggering revolt by former Telangana Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, a senior OBC leader. Three-time former MLA from Jangoan, Lakshmaiah has been cultivating the constituency for the last four years and has readied his cadre to contest this time too.
Allotment of this seat to Prof Kodandaram, a Reddy by caste, has angered Lakshmaiah who issued a statement saying that the move would hurt the sentiments of OBCs who had already been neglected by Congress. Lakshmaiah’s sudden defiance has caused panic among Congress circles and the high command is understood to have sought the help of the AP CM to solve the difficulty.
Gehlot is believed to have urged Naidu to use his good offices to persuade Kodandaram to shift to some other seat, leaving Jangon to Lakshmaiah. However, TJS spokesman Yogeeswar Reddy told this newspaper on Saturday that Kodandaram would not give up the Jangoan seat. “Already, we have got fewer seats and we won’t allow further arm twisting by Congress,” the TJS spokesman said.
Besides Jangoan, there are a dozen other seats where warring Congress groups are insisting on getting tickets to their nominees, thus putting pressure on the high command. It is interesting that the Congress is seeking mediation by Naidu to pacify some of its own leaders. If Gehlot’s mission to Naidu yields results, Congress hopes to release its first list of 74 candidates by Monday.