Congress Eyes Clean Sweep in TS for Lok Sabha Polls, Urges Sonia Gandhi to Contest

HYDERABAD: The Congress, buoyant after forming the government in Telangana state, is now switching gears to next year’s Lok Sabha polls and is aiming for a clean sweep of the 16 seats outside Hyderabad. It also passed a resolution requesting Sonia Gandhi contest from the state.

The Lok Sabha polls came up for discussion in the TPCC’s first political affairs committee (PAC) meeting, since winning the state polls, on Monday. The meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, chaired by AICC Telangana affairs incharge Manikrao Thakre, saw the attendance of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, his deputy Bhatti Vikramarka, minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, TPCC convener Md Shabbir Ali and senior leader V. Hanumantha Rao, among others.

Among the decisions taken was to appoint ministers as incharges for each Lok Sabha constituency, with the CM and Deputy CM responsible for two each. The PAC passed a unanimous resolution requesting Sonia Gandhi to contest Lok Sabha polls from Telangana state.

Indira Gandhi had contested from Medak in the Telangana region in 1980 and had gone on to become the Prime Minister. Congress leaders backing Sonia Gandhi's candidature said she had accorded statehood to Telangana, fulfilling the six-decade dream of the people, who would now love to vote her to the Lok Sabha from the state.

The meeting also discussed filling up vacant MLC seats, nominated posts in the government and vacant district Congress committee (DCC) posts.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, held in 2019, the BRS won nine seats, the BJP four, the Congress won Nalgonda, Bhongir and Malkajgiri and AIMIM Hyderabad.

Party sources said that the PAC laid focus on 16 seats, other than Hyderabad, which is an AIMIM stronghold, and discussed the blueprint for victory.

In the Assembly polls, the Congress secured the highest vote share in nine Lok Sabha constituencies of Peddapalli, Zaheerabad, Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Bhongir, Warangal, Mahbubabad and Khammam.

The PAC discussed measures to retain the vote share in the Lok Sabha polls to secure these nine constituencies, besides strengthening their vote share in seven other seats where the party came second or third. It also appointed AICC observers for each of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Party sources said that Congress would release its list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections any time after the Sankranti festival next January. It was also speculated by Revanth Reddy that the polls may be advanced to February 2024, instead of the original schedule of April.

Congress list of LS constituency incharges:

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy: Chevella, Mahbubnagar
Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka: Secunderabad, Hyderabad
Tummala Nageswara Rao: Malkajgiri
Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy: Khammam, Mahbubabad
D. Anasuya ‘Seethakka’: Adilabad
D. Sridhar Babu: Peddapalli
Ponnam Prabhakar: Karimnagar
Damodar Rajanarasimha: Medak
Jupally Krishna Rao: Nagarkurnool
N. Uttam Kumar Reddy: Nalgonda
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy: Bhongir
Konda Surekha: Warangal