Congress leaders fight it out for Yellareddy

Nizamabad: Senior Congress leader K Madan Mohan Rao from Kamareddy district had increased his preparations for the next election and has been canvasing aggressively in the district. Eyeing the State Assembly election that will be conducted later this year, Madan Mohan Rao has been spending more time among the people and is looking for different ways to reach out to the people. Madan Mohan Rao, who contested for the Zahirabad Parliament seat in the 2019 general elections, is now expected to contest the State Assembly seat from Yellareddy constituency. However, this decision might have started an internal factional war in the Congress party. While, Madan Mohan Rao had prepared the cadre for favourability in the party so that his candidature would not be opposed by leaders such as Subhash Reddy, and all efforts are being made in the Yellareddy constituency for K Madan Mohan Rao to contest for the Assembly seat.

Madan Mohan Rao was defeated by a narrow margin of 15,000 votes in the 2019 parliamentary election as a Congress candidate from the Zahirabad constituency.

Speaking to The Hans India, Madan Mohan Rao said that he has been preparing to contest from Yellareddy constituency since the day he lost in last general election. He explained the story behind the decision to contest from the Yellareddy Assembly seat. Expressing his anger, Madan Mohan Rao blamed MLA Jajala Surender for his defeat in the last general election. Jajala Surender, who won the Yellareddy Assembly seat as a Congress candidate in the last State election, had joined the TRS party at a time when Madan Mohan Rao was in the limelight as a Lok Sabha candidate for the Congress party. Madan Mohan Rao feels that his lost with a narrow margin was a direct result of the MLA quitting the Congress party and joining the BRS.

Madan Mohan Rao is haunted by the pain that he did not show the least gratitude for his efforts towards MLA Surender's victory. The followers of his group say that they are going to contest from Yellareddy Assembly constituency to give a return gift.

However, this development might create strife within the party and pose a challenge over the contention of Ellareddy Congress party in-charge Subhash Reddy, who has pinned his hopes to contest the next Assembly election from the constituency for the party. Subhash Reddy, a follower of Revanth Reddy, opposes the imigration of Madan Mohan Rao. Subhash Reddy has been making a sketch to prevent Madan from getting the ticket. Madan Mohan Rao, who is the chairman of Telangana IT cell and in-charge of Zahirabad Parliament, had openly said that he has the blessings of senior party officials. The tussle between both Madan Mohan Rao and Subhash Reddy for the party ticket has been creating confusion in the Yellareddy Congress party cadre.

Moreover, Madan Mohan Rao had also signaled to the cadre that if he will contest State Assembly election with the hand symbol on the Congress ticket or as an independent candidate. Along with towing the party line, Madan Mohan Rao has also been doing programmes to improve his own image.

Yellareddy constituency in-charge Vaddepalli Subhash Reddy's faction and Madan mohan's faction clashed several times regarding MLA candidature. In this regard, the two leaders have also complained to the Congress leadership. Congress sympathisers are debating how Madan Mohan Rao's aggressiveness will fare within the Congress party. Madan Mohan Rao, who contested from TDP in 2014 elections as Zahirabad MP and contested from Congress in 2019 elections, is eyeing Yellareddy Assembly constituency in 2023. "Congress leadership will not give Yellareddy ticket to him, Madan Mohan will go to contest from Bansuwada Assembly" - his opponents are campaigning strongly.

The other party leaders are split on the issue and are struggling to decide who to support between the two Congress leaders, Madan Mohan Rao and Subhash Reddy. The ruling BRS party MLA Surender and BJP candidate Enugu Ravinder Reddy hoped that the group war in Yellareddy Congress will contribute in favour of their victory. With this, Yellareddy's fight in the upcoming elections will become interesting in state politics.