Amidst the political heat generated by Telangana TDP working president, Revanth Reddy’s meeting with AICC vice president, Rahul Gandhi, his entry into Congress is unlikely to happen soon.
It might take more than a month for Revanth’s move to take final shape for ‘strategic and political’ reasons. It is understood that the TDP MLA is likely to formally join the Congress by November-end in the presence of Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. It will be followed by a public meeting, the venue of which will be decided in due course.
The reason for the delay, sources said, was Revanth wants to ensure his entry was a smooth affair and with a bang.
Assembly session
The Telangana Assembly session is starting on October 27 and he wants to utilise the opportunity as the TDP leader to attack the government rather than being in defence of changing parties during the sessions.
Mr. Reddy’s entry is likely to see some opposition within the Congress, particularly leadership in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district and also some seniors who might feel threatened with his presence. He doesn’t want to be seen as someone encroaching on their prospects.
A senior functionary of the Congress revealed that D.K. Aruna was annoyed as she felt Mr. Reddy could have conveyed his wish to seniors like her before making it public. Her argument was that she had stood behind the party despite repressive policies of the government and the TRS party. Nalgonda MLA, Komatreddy Venkata Reddy too expressed similar feelings and refused to give his opinion as he was not informed.
While Mr. Reddy is mounting criticism on his parent party with each passing day, he is simultaneously reaching out to senior Congress leaders assuring them that he would work in tandem with all of them. He is likely to meet some more senior leaders even as several former Ministers like V. Hanumantha Rao and D. Sreedhar Babu have openly welcomed him.
That Mr. Reddy has the blessings of Mr. Rahul Gandhi himself is keeping some of them silent. Moreover, the TPCC president, N. Uttamkumar Reddy, who is fully backing Revanth’s entry, is said to have conveyed the Congress high command’s views to all senior leaders. A section of the Congress, particularly the young brigade, feels he should join the party immediately.
Meanwhile, Mr. Reddy’s associates, led by Balu Singh Naik, are reported to have decided to join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the presence of Minister K. T. Rama Rao.
