Rahul’s visit to Hyderabad exposes widening gap between high command and CM Revanth

Rahul Gandhi's recent visit to Hyderabad and interactions with Congress leaders indicate a widening gap between the Congress high command and Telangana CM, A Revanth Reddy, amid internal party tensions

Hyderabad: Has Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Hyderabad on Tuesday given enough indications of the widening gap between the Congress high command and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy? Well, going by the recent meetings, it appears so.

TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud had met AICC Chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi during his trip to New Delhi on October 26. Party sources said the TPCC president had discussed a few issues about the party affairs and also briefed them about the caste census. It is strongly believed in the party that the TPCC president invited Rahul Gandhi to participate in the State-level consultation on caste census. Accordingly, Rahul Gandhi arrived in Hyderabad for a two-hour visit on Tuesday and attended the programme.

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Prior to this, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had met AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal on October 25 and shared the progress achieved on caste census programme.

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had been to New Delhi quite a few times in the recent past but could not meet the Gandhi family members. During his visit to New Delhi on August 16, the Chief Minister along with Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu had met the AICC chief. He personally invited Kharge to participate in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s statue unveiling ceremony near the Secretariat on August 20. However, neither Kharge nor any of the Gandhi family members participated in the programme.

Similarly, after launching the crop loan waiver scheme on July 18, the Chief Minister while interacting with farmers through video conference had announced that a public meeting would be conducted in Warangal to celebrate the occasion. He also assured that Rahul Gandhi would be invited for the public meeting and accordingly he flew to New Delhi on July 22.

There was a strong buzz in the party here that the Chief Minister would invite Rahul Gandhi for the proposed public meeting at Warangal. Much to the disappointment of the cadre, the public meeting was not organized making things obvious about Rahul Gandhi’s willingness.

All these instances shed light on the state of affairs between the high command and the Chief Minister, particularly over murmurings within the party over his moves with HYDRAA, the Musi project and the controversial demolitions that turned the public mood against the Congress government.