Azad focuses on by-polls

March 31, 2012 11:11 am | Updated 11:11 am IST - HYDERABAD:

Congress party's central leadership has set its eyes on making major gains in the by-elections to 18 Assembly seats.

In wake of humiliating defeat in all the seven Assembly seats that witnessed by-elections, the party leadership is keen on putting up an impressive show against the YSR Congress Party.

AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad spent over an hour with a dozen Seemandhra MPs and issued specific instructions on Friday. He held wide ranging consultations with them on the party's preparedness to face by-elections.

Ministers – Panabaka Lakshmi and D. Purandeswari, MPs – A. Saipratap, J. D. Seelam, Lagadapati Rajagopal, Ananta Venkataram Reddy, G.V. Harsha Kumar, K. Bapiraju and former Minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy attended the meeting.

As part of its strategy, it was decided to constitute a committee for each constituency comprising a Minister, an MP, two MLAs and three PCC office-bearers. The panel to be named in 15 days would be entrusted the task of giving a status report on each constituency. The MPs wanted the party to announce its candidates in advance so that they could take on the YSR Congress and the TDP head on. Mr. Azad advised the Anantapur MP Ananta Venkataram Reddy and Mr. Diwakar Reddy to sink their differences and work for the party candidate's victory.

Complain against Lagadapati

Similarly, Mr. Saipratap reportedly briefed Mr. Azad about the prevailing situation in Kadapa district, while Ms. Panabaka Lakshmi is said to have complained that the survey results being made public by Mr. Lagadapati Rajagopal were damaging the party's image.

Parkal seat

Meanwhile, 10 Telangana Congress MPs also met Mr. Azad. The AICC general secretary is said to have enquired with them about the Parkal seat, which would witness bypoll along with 17 others seats.

'T' MPs defiant

The MPs, however, continued their defiance and demanded that the Centre expedite the statehood issue. During the meeting, the MPs told him that everything would be normal in Telangana, if the Centre made suitable announcement on the statehood issue.

It is understood Mr. Azad made enquiries about the status of Hyderabad.

The MPs said Hyderabad was very much part and parcel of Telangana and they would not accept a State without the State Capital.

Complain against Kiran

Another Member of Parliament complained about the growing number of groups within the Congress party and reportedly expressed displeasure about the statements being issued by some senior leaders.

The MP objected to the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy's remarks on suicides by students and youth. A first-time Member of Parliament objected to the manner in which ACB enquiry was on to fix some Ministers.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.