Telangana Congress Leaders Unite Ahead of Polls, Inspired by 'Balagam' Movie

Hyderabad: State Congress leaders have seemingly learnt a lesson or two from the movie ‘Balagam,’ and the results of last month’s Karnataka Assembly polls.

The appointment of Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister, who pipped the other contender, Karnataka Congress president D.K. Shivakumar to the post, has kept alive the hopes of Telangana party leaders like MPs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.

The leaders who were bickering among themselves have largely fallen silent. Grapevine has it that they have decided to stick together until the polls.

Leaders who were conspicuous by their absence in the recent TPCC extended meeting like D. Sridhar Babu and Uttam Kumar Reddy, who also skipped the Hyderabad Youth Declaration event of party leader Priyanka Gandhi, turned up for the meeting held in Jadcherla as part of Bhatti’s padayatra.

When his supporters started projecting him as the future CM, Venkat Reddy is believed to have told them to tone down their enthusiasm and instead ensure his victory.

A senior leader of the party, who faced the brunt of abuse from the social media war room, allegedly run by PCC president A. Revanth Reddy, said, “You can observe many of us were absent and nothing much has changed. This is the personal feeling of many leaders. I am sticking to my constituency and not venturing out anywhere.”

Asked if the recent action taken against the social media in-charge Prashanth was satisfactory, he said, “The PCC is silent. Does it not appear strange that so many leaders were targeted? Many of us had stood by the party through thick and thin.”

Asked about Revanth Reddy’s remarks that he was willing to take two steps backward to accommodate others, the party leader wondered, “The call is welcome but are we really going that way?”

Revanth Reddy has also called on leaders who had deserted the party and joined the BJP to do a ‘ghar wapsi’.

After the AICC made it clear that tickets for the ensuing Assembly elections will be based on survey findings, many leaders seem to have fallen in line and also postponed their pitch for the CM’s post.

But still, their ambition to outdo one another might lead the leaders to plot their own strategies to mobilise support for themselves.