Hyderabad: Even as the stage is set for the declaration of the first list of the Congress party candidates for the upcoming elections, several senior leaders are trying to exert pressure on the party high command in order to ensure tickets to their loyalists.
In a fresh development, it is learnt that TPCC Working President A. Revanth Reddy, who has been leaving no stone unturned to ensure the victory of the party, is reportedly upset with the decision of the party high command for denying tickets to his loyalists. According to highly placed sources, Reddy reportedly warned the party high command that he would withdraw from the fray and not contest in the elections if his supporters were denied the party tickets.
Revanth has been demanding the party high command to give tickets to his loyalists. These candidates include Vem Narender Reddy (Warangal West), A. Narsareddy (Nizamabad Rural), Rajaram Yadav (Armoor), Subash Reddy (Yellareddy), Belya Naik (Deverakonda), Haripriya (Yellandu), Patel Ramesh Reddy (Suryapet) and Boda Janardhan (Chennoor).
Another senior party leader and former minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy also reportedly warned the party high command that he would also withdraw from the fray if his loyalist Chirumarthi Lingaiah was not given ticket from Nakrekal assembly constituency. Going a step ahead, he also led a dharna organized in protest in Nalgonda town along with ticket aspirant Lingaiah and his supporters and demanded the party high command to allot ticket to his loyalist.
He also warned that the TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and CLP leader K. Jana Reddy would not win from their respective assembly segments if his loyalist was not given the ticket from the seat. “ I will not even contest in the upcoming elections if Lingaiah was denied the ticket. He has won on behalf of the party earlier and he will also win this time. I don’t understand as to what is prompting the high command to concede the seat to the alliance partners when it is a winning seat for our party,” he said.
On the other hand, the younger brother of Venkat Reddy and party MLC K. Rajagopal Reddy met with the members of party’s screening committee in New Delhi on the issue and urged them not to allot the Nakrekal seat to grand alliance partners and field party leader and their loyalist Lingaiah from the seat. “ I am confident that the high command would allot ticket to those leaders, who can win the elections for the party. If the ticket is not given to the winning candidates and is allotted to our alliance partners, then it will only benefit our rival TRS Party. This is the time to cash in on the strong anti-incumbency factor present in the state and defeat the TRS,” he said. Reddy hoped that the party high command would also give ticket to party leader Patel Ramesh Reddy from Suryapet assembly segment.
Political analysts feel the senior party leaders are adopting blackmailing tactics to ensure the tickets to their loyalists. They also add that there is more reason behind such acts than what meets ” the eye. ” There are many reasons for adopting such blackmailing tactics by Revanth and K. Venkat Reddy. Both leaders are very popular and are considered to be front runners for the CM’s post. However, they can’t become the CM unless they have their loyalists as MLAS. It is because of this reason, they are trying to blackmail the party leadership and get tickets for their supporters,” a political analyst told this journalist. (NSS)
