The poor showing of the Congress in Telangana in the elections found an echo at an emergency meeting convened by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah to back the leadership of AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
TPCC leaders unanimously passed a resolution urging Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Rahul Gandhi to continue in the party posts and rejected their offer to resign owning moral responsibility. The resolution moved by former Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Raj Narasimha was seconded by senior leaders. The resolution said there was a need for Ms. Gandhi’s leadership for all-round development of the country.
That resentment among the party cadres and leaders was brewing was evident when TPCC secretary from Musheerabad constituency Kishan squarely blamed the party seniors for the humiliating show in the region. In the presence of the top guns like former PCC chief D. Srinivas, former Minister K. Jana Reddy, MP-elect Gutha Sukhender Reddy and Renuka Chowdary, Mr. Kishan raised his voice.
Apart from victorious MPs and MLAs, those who lost the elections also attended the meeting.
Mr. Kishan said the party had failed to work in unison with leaders confining themselves to the constituencies instead of campaigning extensively. He also said if ‘Modi wave’ was one of the reasons for the party’s debacle, the situation was different in Telangana where the failure of the party leadership was responsible.
Former AICC secretary Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy is said to have mentioned that the protest reflected the anger of grassroots cadres and leaders at the pathetic performance.
He wanted complete revamp of the party set-up at the State, district and mandal levels.
Meanwhile, the TPCC disciplinary action committee expelled two senior Congress leaders, including S. Ram Reddy, brother of former Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and Warangal ZP chairperson L. Dhanvanthi.
