New PCC chief by July 7

New Delhi: It is now official that the Congress high command will complete the process of finding a new PCC chief and give its nod for the Cabinet expansion by July 7.

In an informal chat with the media in New Delhi on Friday, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said his three-year term as PCC president would end on July 7 and it has been decided by the party high command that they would take a decision on his successor by that time. “The high command will decide the name of the new PCC president and will give green signal for the Cabinet expansion in the first week of July,” he added.

This indication was clearly given to him following the meetings he had with Sonia Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Deepadas Munshi and others along with Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy during the last two days.

Revanth said it has also been decided that only those who won the elections on the Congress ticket during the Assembly elections will be accommodated in the Cabinet expansion. He said there would be no place for those who migrated from the BRS To the Congress this time.

It may be mentioned here that senior BRS leaders and MLAs – Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, K Srihari and D Nagendar had joined the Congress with a hope of getting a ministerial berth in the expansion.

The Chief Minister also met AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge separately and submitted a list of candidates for the post of TPCC president. Revanth Reddy recommended his Cabinet colleague and close aide Seetakka for the post of the TPCC president.

The CM said a women leader as TPCC president would be a good sign for women empowerment. He said the issue of some MLAs and leaders from the BRS joining the Congress was also discussed during the meeting with party high command. The high command gave clear instructions to him that he should admit only those who will not demand any ministerial berth now. He said the defections were common in every state. Even in Telangana, the BRS had poached many of the Congress leaders in the past. He said they had been admitting all those who were willingly joining the Congress to strengthen the party further.

The CM said his government would be prudent in financial management unlike the previous BRS government. He said the present government had inherited a debt burden of Rs 7 lakh crore. It was trying to talk to the bankers and see if they can get some reduction in the interest rate so that there can be a savings of about Rs 1,000 crore per year.

On the issue of farm loans, Revanth said guidelines and modalities for the loan waiver scheme would be released in a week. He further said that the government would present the state budget in the Assembly only after the Union Budget was presented. Replying to a question on free bus travel for women, the CM said the TSRTC was earning profits despite the free travel scheme for women.