Indravelli meeting exposes ruptures in Congress

Most of the senior Congress leaders skipped the much-trumpeted Dalit Girijan Dandora organised by the party at Indravelli on Monday

Hyderabad: The very first major outing of Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy as TPCC president exposed the troubled path he would have to tread in the days to come.

Most of the senior Congress leaders, including his predecessor N Uttam Kumar Reddy, former Minister K Jana Reddy, MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and his brother Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, TPCC working president and MLA Jagga Reddy, former Minister Chinna Reddy, former MP V Hanumantha Rao, to name a few, skipped the much-trumpeted Dalit Girijan Dandora organised by the party at Indravelli on Monday, an event that Revanth Reddy hoped would place him on centre-stage.

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A small section of the Grand Old Party has put up a pretence of the event being a hit, but the absence of these senior leaders was too conspicuous to be ignored. The Dandora itself has not gone down well among the tribals in the State since it was under the Congress rule in undivided Andhra Pradesh that the police opened fire on a tribal gathering at Indravelli on April 20, 1981, resulting in several deaths. In fact, several tribal rights organisations on Tuesday gathered at the Martyrs Column and purified it stating that the Congress meeting had desecrated the spot.

The cold-shouldering of Revanth Reddy by the senior leaders also gains significance since the new TPCC has been claiming that there is a renewed sense of unity in the party now. Such claims stand exposed post the Dandora, analysts feel.

“This was the first mega public meeting organised by the party under the leadership of Revanth Reddy, but it came a cropper because of the absence of senior leaders on stage. It is a clear indication that all is not well in the Congress camp and speaks volumes of the differences between State party leaders,” a political analyst said.

While Jagga Reddy cited health reasons for not attending the programme, the others, who had extended support to the Dandora, failed to turn up at the event.

Sources in the party said Uttam was not happy with the way youth leader Kaushik Reddy’s episode was handled by the party. Kaushik Reddy resigned from the Congress and joined the TRS, which recommended his name for an MLC seat under Governor’s nominated quota.

The only leaders who attended the event were CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, MLAs Sittaka and D Sridhar Babu and a few other leaders from the area.

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