Congress grapples with infighting over 50 seats; senior leaders push for favourite candidates

Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress party is having trouble nominating MLA candidates in 50 constituencies as many senior Congress party members are pushing to have their own candidates nominated.

This infighting has reached a point where it has become a cause for heated discussions and arguments among Congress leaders.

With the Telangana parties contesting for 119 seats, these 50 seats have become a bone of contention as the screening committee members are failing to see eye-to-eye.

The Telangana elections are scheduled for November 30 and the finalisation of MLA candidates is the last step remaining for the Congress. Choosing the right candidates has become quite important for Congress in the light of the six guarantees it has made to the state when it comes to power.

These six guarantees are being viewed very closely by the people of the state. To execute these guarantees it is important to have a candidate who is in touch with the people at the ground level and also has a persona that is ‘socially acceptable’ to the public.

Each seat has 4 aspirants

According to sources, there are four aspirants fighting for each seat among the 50 seats and each of them has connections or goodwill with senior party members.

The senior and screening committee members are pushing for the candidature of the aspirants who are close to them. The arguments are flying back and forth among Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Revanth Reddy, senior leaders Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komati Venkat Reddy, Madhu Goud Yaskhi and other leaders.

Worry over switching to BRS

The declaration of Mynampally Hanumanth Rao and his son Dr Mynampally Rohit led to two District Congress Committee presidents leaving the party and joining Bharat Rashtra Samithi; DCC president Nandhikanti Sridhar from Medchal Malkajgiri district and K Tirupathi Reddy of Medak district left.

This has caused a stir and also led to threats from others who are demanding that the party give them the seats or they will join BRS, explained sources in the Congress party.

BC leaders not on winning list

There is a demand for 34 seats for Backward Classes but those BC candidates in the party have not qualified for the winning list.

A survey carried out by Sunil Kanugolu’s team does not show the BC leaders among the list of candidates receiving the party tickets. Due to this, there is a severe demand to give seats to BC candidates.

“The BC leaders in the Gandhi Bhavan want their candidates to get tickets even though their impact on the ground level has not been substantial. It’s a very close fight and the ticket to a wrong candidate will only ensure that a seat goes to BRS.”

Threat to go to BRS

With the Model Code of Conduct declared, those threatening to leave and go to BRS are going to be handled by leaders from the All-India Congress Committee, whose members are set to arrive before the final declaration of seats to placate the persuade the displeased members not to leave the party and meet their demands.

Congress is planning to declare the final list of its MLA candidates after Dusshera. The number of disgruntled members will be high the Congress party received more than 1,000 applications. The members have paid a deposit of Rs 50,000 per candidate in the open category and a Rs 25,000 deposit per candidate in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories.

"I am requesting media friends not to create any confusion regarding candidate selection. The Congress party has specific rules, and candidate selection will be carried out in accordance with these rules. Alliance discussions are currently in the preliminary stage only. Therefore, I kindly request you not to publish any unnecessary information," said Revanth Reddy speaking to the media.