Vijayashanthi’s candidature: AICC reminds Revanth Reddy who is boss

The former MP's candidacy further highlights the party high command's apparent sidelining of the Chief Minister. Over the past 14 months, Vijayashanthi has had minimal interaction with the Chief Minister and was not actively engaged in the party’s activities. Despite this, the AICC selected her.

Hyderabad: By selecting actor-turned-politician Vijayashanthi as an MLC candidate under the MLAs quota, the AICC has put its stamp of authority on party affairs and appears to have shown Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy his place.

The former MP’s candidature also sheds more light on the fact that the party high command has been cold shouldering the Chief Minister. In the last 14 months, Vijayashanthi had hardly met the Chief Minister and was not actively involved in any of the party’s programmes. Yet, she was chosen by the AICC.

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There is a buzz in Gandhi Bhavan that the Chief Minister had listed out a few names, including Advisor Vem Narender Reddy, TPCC media coordinator Sama Rammohan Reddy and his close aide TMRIES president Faheem Qureshi.

Before finalizing the candidates, there was speculation that the State leadership would be called to New Delhi to discuss their suggestions. However, taking many by surprise, the high command announced Vijayashanthi, Addanki Dayakar and Shankar Naik as candidates.

In an informal chat with media persons in New Delhi on Monday, TPCC working president T Jagga Reddy too said the AICC’s selection of candidates was very surprising.

“I am shocked and have gone politically blank,” Jagga Reddy said.

Since the last few days, AICC Telangana incharge Meenakshi Natarajan has been holding meetings with party leaders from different constituencies and seeking their feedback on multiple aspects, including governance.

Another interesting factor that is leaving the party leaders perplexed is the Chief Minister failing to meet the high command, despite flying to New Delhi frequently.

On March 2 and 3, the Chief Minister was seen in New Delhi. There was anticipation in the party leaders that apart from meeting Union Ministers, the Chief Minister would meet the high command and discuss the finalisation of MLCs candidates.

However, despite being in the capital for two days, he could not meet the high command. Again, on Friday, the Chief Minister left for New Delhi to attend a programme and stayed back till Saturday morning. That time too, he could not meet the high command.

With Sunday’s announcement of candidates, political circles say that it was the AICC’s way of reminding Revanth Reddy who was the boss.