Official stand on ‘turncoats’ stir concerns among senior Congress leaders

The episode of Arikepudi Gandhi's controversy left many senior ruling party leaders worried about the political fall out of the unrestrained slugfest.

Hyderabad: The Arekapudi Gandhi episode which hotted up the political atmosphere in the State capital has many senior ruling party leaders worried about the political fall out of the unrestrained slugfest. Senior Congress leaders have been discussing how a ‘new entrant’ like Gandhi had managed to muddle up the entire situation by his unbridled comments which could ultimately lead to political advantage to the rival BRS.

The general opinion among many Congress leaders is that the BRS managed to get excellent political mileage out of the whole episode while branding the ruling party as being totally bullish and using the police to suppress the Opposition parties. The way the Serilingampally legislator, who had crossed over the Congress recently, rushed to the house of Kaushik Reddy was most unwarranted and his ‘thoughtless’ action had only politically accrued benefits to the rival BRS with the police action too showing palpable bias. The arrest of BRS legisaltor Harish Rao and other MLAs and the way they were taken around several police stations before being arrested and let off on bail had sent wrong signals, Congress leaders rue.

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This disenchantment over the way Congress bigwigs handled the issue, had kept many seniors away from the whole controversy. While no senior Congress leader had even made a comment about the developing situation, it was only the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Legislative Affairs minister D Sridhar Babu and TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud had only responded on the issue. The strategic silence from other political leaders on the issue, had itself become a point of debate among political observers.

The distancing was so obvious that it was only another political turncoat Danam Nagender, who rushed to the aid of Arekapudi Gandhi to extend support. The Congress circles were agog with discussions that none was prepared to step into the muddle, even as the Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was not too happy with the touch-me-not attitude of his senior colleagues. Moreover, the assertion that the Congress would continue to welcome any leader into its fold, even while maintaining that the turncoat MLA Gandhi was still in the BRS, could lead to political complications later, they argue.

“Congress is a national party and it cannot have different policies for different States. The Nyay Patra 2024 Lok Sabha elections party manifesto vowed to discourage defections but the State leadership’s ideology is in sharp contrast to the high command’s policy,” said a senior leader.

But Sridhar Babu’s argument had also not gone done well in the party rank and file. At a recent press conference, the Legisaltive Affairs Minister asserted: “Arekapudi Gandhi declared that he is BRS MLA. If PAC Chairman has any differences with BRS, how are we related to it.” But a section of leaders are not convinced with the State leadership’s thought process and the way MLAs defection episode is being handled.

It may be recalled that High Court had asked the Speaker to take a decision on the defection of MLAs within four weeks. Apart from legal action or other outcomes, some leaders are anxious about the consequences the party has to face. Assembly elections were underway in Haryana, followed by those in Maharashtra, J&K and Delhi. At this juncture, the conflict of interest between the high command and State leadership could give enough ammunition to opposition parties to criticize, citing double standards, another senior leader observed.