Hyderabad: Congress grapples with task of picking winning horses for 4 parl segments

Hyderabad : The Congress party which has decided to clear all the remaining names of the candidates, particularly from key segments of Khammam, Warangal and Karimnagar by March end continues to struggle with proposed names. With top leaders from State including Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and other ministers' fail to arrive at a consensus, the party is yet to arrive at a clarity.

According to party sources, even as meetings continued on Thursday at different levels including deliberations made by AICC secretaries for Telangana, aspirants made a beeline before the party high command in Delhi, building more pressure on top brass. “As the AICC has to make a final call over clearing the names, some of the aspirants continued to lobby in Delhi. As consensus could not be reached on these key constituencies during the CEC (Central Election Committee) meeting attended by AICC’s top leaders. Discussions continued on Thursday at different levels, even as the aspirants kept their fingers crossed with the hope that their name will be listed this time. AICC secretaries including Rohit Chowdary, Mansoor Ali Khan and others had in depth discussions over the four candidates to be finalised,” said a senior leader.

Amongst these Khammam and Karimnagar remained hard nuts to crack. Given the fact that Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s wife Mallu Nandini and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy’s brother Prasada Reddy remain the top contenders the party weighs options. While at Karimnagar, former Husnabad MLA Aligireddy Praveen Reddy, Velichala Rajender Rao and Chintapandu Naveen (Teenmar Mallanna) were the names which made rounds within the party. While in Warangal which is SC reserved, the party found it difficult to finalise between D Sambaiah, a Madiga and sitting MP P Dayakar, a Mala who recently joined from BRS.

Meanwhile the Congress has decided to chalk out a strategy to win the targeted 14 seats in the polls. The PCC’s executive committee meeting to be presided over by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will be deliberating over strategies on March 29 (Friday). The agenda of the meeting is likely to include engaging national leaders in public meetings, mobilising ground support of party workers and financial resources, amongst others. With the experience of Assembly polls, the Congress aims to translate the crowds arriving at public meetings particularly of the Revanth Reddy into a clear mandate.