Telangana: 'Show Of Unity' By Congress Leaders In Hyderabad In Efforts To Take On BRS

The Telangana Congress tried to put up a show of unity at a lunch meeting at the residence of Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy in Hyderabad on 19 July.

The meeting was attended by all the senior leaders like state president Revanth Reddy, the AICC in-charge for Telangana, Manikarao Thakre, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud, Nalgonda MP and former state president Uttam Kumar Reddy, AICC Secretary A Sampath Kumar, former ministers K Jana Reddy, Damodar Rajnarsimha and Ponnala Lakshmaiah.

Various ideas for the election campaign were put forward during the meeting. While Venkata Reddy suggested a bus yatra with the participation of all Congress leaders, Sampath Kumar is said to have proposed a padayatra in southern Telangana.

Ponnala Lakshmaiah, a former PCC chief, suggested that the party should focus on the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions residing in Telangana, who comprise a significant number of voters in around 40 constituencies in the state.

During the meeting, some senior leaders are learnt to have raised concerns about leaks to the media regarding surveys conducted on potential candidates.

The meeting of Congress leaders comes days after the row over Revanth Reddy's remarks on the nature of the BRS government's free power scheme for farmers.

Though the party took on the BRS on the issue, sections within the Congress had then said that such remarks could have been avoided.

The meeting is also significant as it comes before the next rally by Priyanka Gandhi in the state.

Recently, the BJP too made efforts to stem the infighting in its ranks by making Union Minister G Kishan Reddy as the state president and appointing Eatala Rajender as the head of the party's campaign committee.