Hyderabad: Senior Congress leaders have started meeting local leaders in the name of get-togethers and preparing the ground to lobby for tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections after being defeated in the recent Assembly elections held in Telangana.
Though AICC president Rahul Gandhi has stated that candidates who lost in the Assembly polls will not be given tickets in general elections, senior leaders of the Congress continue to work hard to grab them.
They believe that lobbying is the greatest weapon in the Congress but before approaching the high command, they want to make sure that they have full support of the local cadre. Being away from their constituencies has proved costly for Congress leaders who won in 2014. To rectify their mistakes, the leaders have started meeting all district leaders.
The ticket for the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat is seeing tough competition with former Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy competing with former minister D.K. Aruna and Congress working president A. Revanth Reddy. Ms Aruna and Mr Revanth Reddy lost in the Assembly elections and, according to sources, want a chance to prove themselves in the general elections.
There is intense lobbying for other seats too where senior Congress leaders are angling for tickets.
Former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who joined the Congress from the TRS before the Assembly elections, may face competition from his previous opponent Karthik Reddy. According to party sources, there might be tough competition for Mr Patel Ramesh Reddy from Mr Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy — who won the Assembly election — for the Nalgonda ticket.
Former PCC chief Ponnala Laxmiah and TPCC treasurer Guduru Narayana Reddy are both in the race for the Bhongir Lok Sabha seat. Senior leader Renuka Chowdary and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy are eyeing the Khammam constituency where the Congress got good results during the Assembly polls.
All the aspirants think that they can do better against the TRS candidates in the general elections expecting that it will be a Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi affair.
