Congress high command makes its intentions clear on who calls the shots in Telangana

AICC incharge Meenakshi Natarajan directs State leadership to take steps for appointment of party’s village, mandal, district committees by next month

Hyderabad: The Congress high command is once again making itself loud and clear to the State leadership on who calls the shots in party affairs.

This is becoming apparent in the manner in which different appointments to be made in the near future are being decided and with the attempts to discourage any moves that would entertain priority to turncoat MLAs and leaders who joined the Congress recently.

AICC incharge Meenakshi Natarajan has directed the State leadership to take steps for appointment of the party’s village, mandal, district committees by next month. This apart, instructions were issued to complete the task of appointing District Congress Committee presidents before May 20.

Instructions were also issued to recommend names of five persons for village and mandal presidents and three names for block Congress president post. However, it was specifically directed that leaders, who were actively involved in the party affairs from 2017 to till date, should be recommended for the posts.

This has raised eyebrows in Gandhi Bhavan, especially in the wake of complaints from within the party that turncoats and leaders, especially Telugu Desam, were given priority in filling up of a few nominated posts and others.

For instance, Vem Narender Reddy has been appointed Advisor. Former MLA Seetha Dayakar Reddy, who had joined the Congress in September 2023, has been appointed as chairperson of Telangana State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, Patel Ramesh Reddy, who was also from TDP, was made chairman of TGDTC, while Bandru Shobharani, who was also from TDP, was appointed Telangana State Women’s Cooperative Development Corporation, to name a few.

The party high command instructions are being seen as a move to clip the wings of the State leadership from taking unilateral decisions, besides stamping its authority.

It may also be recalled that there was friction between the State leadership and the high command after the Kancha Gachibowli row. Meenakshi Natarajan’s “interference” in the issue, meeting Ministers in the Secretariat and holding meetings with University of Hyderabad students, staff and others was not taken positively by leaders here.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the CLP meeting had also directed the MLAs and party leaders to hold outreach programmes at grassroots level from April 16 to June 2 and promote welfare and development programmes. In contrast, the AICC incharge instructed the party leadership to complete the task of appointing village, mandal and district level committee and DCC presidents before May-end.