As the three-year tenure as TPCC president of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is set to conclude by end of June, there is a growing demand in Congress circles that he be given another term to head the party’s state unit. After all, some party leaders say, it was Revanth who pulled the Congress up from the slump it was in after his appointment as TPCC chief in June 2021, a time when the party was in a state of coma with the BRS having decimated it. But Revanth revived the Congress’ fortunes within no time and steered the party to a superb victory in the Assembly polls and brought the party to power for the first time in Telangana. He also ensured that the Congress put up a decent performance by securing victory in eight Lok Sabha seats recently. Congress circles say that the party high command should not lose the advantage of this 'lucky mascot' by relieving him from TPCC post but continue him in dual posts if at all it wants to rule the state for few more years after 2028.
KANDUVAS NOT SO LUCKY FOR CONGRESS
All those invitations to this party and that, from that party to this, have turned out to be mere exercises to impress the people on how popular one party is as folks from others are joining it in droves. Case in point is the Kamareddy segment where Congress handed over nearly a lakh ‘party kanduvas’ – scarves with party colours and symbols – during the last Assembly elections to all those who ‘joined’ the party. In the end, it was the BJP that won the seat, with Congress candidate and now Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy getting 54,916 votes. Again, in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress distributed the kanduvas only to realise that there was a mismatch in the number of votes the party gained and the scarves that they distributed. Many local leaders are ruing the wasted investment in the kanduvas and have decided not to rely on them anymore when it comes to seeking support from the people.
VOYEURISM IS A DEADLY DISEASE, SAY AUTHORITIES
The phone-tapping case in Telangana has been one that has the potential to rock the careers of some top politicians, and of course, send a handful of cops to prison, if the charges are finally proven in court. While what might happen to who is pretty much in the realm of speculation, BJP leader and former MP Dr Boora Narsaiah Goud added a new dimension the other day by declaring that the BRS leaders privy to phone tapping had indulged in audio voyeurism listening into conversations about the private lives of Tollywood stars. This is a first for anyone in the country to suffer from the ‘voyeurism disease’, the good doctor declared. Only those who suffer from this malady will indulge in such acts, was his diagnosis.
BYE BYE JAGAN, HELLO NTR
There apparently is a sudden surge in demand for car stickers featuring the founder of the Telugu Desam, N.T. Rama Rao, in Andhra Pradesh, particularly from many who until recently were fervent supporters of the YSRC and former AP chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Many who made it a point to prominently paste Jagan’s stickers on their cars to ‘display’ their loyalty and support, have now begun taking these off in a hurry after YSRCP’s wipeout in the Assembly and very poor show in the Lok Sabha polls and have rushed to replace them with NTR’s stickers fearing backlash from local TD cadres.
PAVAN KALYAN THE KAPU CHAMPION?
Former minister Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah, a self-proclaimed champion of ‘Kapu pride’, has suddenly changed his tune, and has started heaping fulsome praise on Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan, who was until recently, firmly in Jogaiah’s firing line after the Jana Sena decided to ally with the TD in Andhra Pradesh. Fickle as politics are, his sudden turnaround has not gone down well with Jana Sena leaders and cadres who are saying that Jogaiah, under the changed political scenario, is just paying lip service after having used every opportunity to attack Pawan for ‘mortgaging’ Kapu pride by allying with the TD. Don’t trust this man, the Jana Sena leaders are now imploring Pawan.
Contributions from Avinash P. Subramanyam, L. Venkat Ram Reddy, K.M.P. Patnaik, Neeraj Kumar, Narender Pulloor.
