Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy to guide Telangana Congress

Hyderabad: The Congress high command is planning a big shake up in the party’s Telangana unit. AICC general secretary in charge of AP affairs Digvijay Singh is likely to be replaced with Kerala former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy soon.

Sources said AICC president Sonia Gandhi is quite upset with the state of affairs in the TPCC, lack of coordination among senior party leaders and series of electoral debacles despite UPA granting statehood to Telangana.

Mrs Gandhi, who interacted with senior party leaders, hinted at replacing Digvijay Singh followed by a shakeup in the party. The next in-charge, sources said, will be Mr Chandy, who was recently ousted as CM in Kerala elections.

Mr Chandy has faced bribery allegations in alleged solar scam case and Thrissur Vigilance Court directed an FIR against him and one of his ministers. However, he is a loyal Congressman and has had a long political stint in Kerala state having served as CM twice from 2004 to 2006 and 2011 to 2016.

“Mr Chandy is likely to be next in-charge of T-Congress affairs. Mrs Gandhi is quite upset with the state of affairs in Telangana and lack of coordination among party leaders. Though Congress gave Telangana, the party leaders failed to en-cash it in polls. Congress suffered severe setback,” a senior party leader said.

According to another senior leader, the AICC president is also peeved at some party men who hobnobbed with the TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao earlier and opposed alliance with the TRS later.

The Congress high command unusually set up a coordination committee for the party which is normally constituted when party is in power to have better understanding between the party and government.

But this too could not prevent party men from defecting to the TRS. It is learnt some senior party leaders lodged a complaint against the state party leadership.

“Some Congress men are sabotaging party. We brought this to the notice of Mrs Gandhi. Some of the actions of some party leaders are highly erratic and against party interests,” revealed a senior leader.