Rift between native and migrant leaders intensifies in Congress; party fields record 43 migrants

HYDERABAD: The Congress party loyalists are up against TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy who is a migrant leader from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for ignoring several senior party leaders and fielding over 43 migrant leaders. These are the ones that switched parties and arrived at the Gandhi Bhavan in time for the 2023 Assembly elections.

The beleaguered Congress, which staggered at releasing lists of party candidates to match the alacrity of the BRS party that announced 115 candidates in one go, faced a severe candidate crunch. To overcome the internal bickering that is common in the Grand Old Party and release the lists, the Congress apparently relied on candidates that arrived from the other parties.

Congress relied on 24 turncoats from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) such as P Vijaya Reddy, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Thummala Nageswara Rao, Mynampally Hanumanth Rao, Jupally Krishna Rao, Gaddam Vinod, Kasireddy Narayan Reddy, Konda Surekha, Vemula Veeresham, Payam Venkateshwarlu, Kuchadi Srihari Rao, Kumbam Anil Kumar Reddy, Tudi Megha Reddy, Thumkunta Narsa Reddy, T Jagga Reddy, Mynampally Rohit, Chinthakunta Vijay Ramarao, Buyyani Manohar Reddy, Saritha Tirupathaya, Kuchakula Rajesh Reddy, Ajmera Shyam, Vodithala Pranav, V Jagadesshwar Goud and Nenavath Balu Naik.

While 10 migrant leaders who got Congress nominations are from the TDP one is from BSP. They are: Sunil Kumar Muthyala from the BSP, A Revanth Reddy the present TPCC president, Dr. Kavvampally Satyanarayana, Gandra Satyanarayana, Madan Mohan Rao, Medipally Satyam, Malreddy Ranga Reddy, Parnika Chittam Reddy, Danasari Anasuya, Bandi Ramesh and Bhosle Narayan Rao Patil are from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Eight of the BJP leaders who hold an entirely different political belief compared to the Congress parachuted into the Congress and were nominated on behalf of the party. The para troopers are K Rajgopal Reddy, Revuri Prakash Reddy,Produturi Vinay Kumar, Podem Veeraiah, Agam Chandra Sekhar, Kolan Hanumnath Reddy, Yenam Srinivas Reddy and Enugu Ravinder Reddy.

The curious case of migrant Mynampally Hanumanth Rao also defies logic as Congress has violated its own Udaipur declaration that stipulated one family one ticket norm. While Mynampally got a nomination for Malkajgiri his son Rohith got nominated for Medak. They left the BRS because the pink party could not accommodate both.

On the other hand, Ponguleti and Jupally were suspended by the BRS for anti-party activities. BRS MLC Kaisreddy Narayana Reddy quit the party and said that Sonia gave Telangana and he was impressed by the six guarantees given by the Congress party.

Top on the paratrooper's list is Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy who thrust upon the costliest election on the people of Munugode by quitting the Congress and rejoining it after riding the BJP only for a while.

While the initial bickering inside the party was about the lack of recognition to loyal leaders by Revanth Reddy and the migrants, now the party cadre is seeing red as they are forced to work hand in hand with a migrant leader who has no base at the constituency level.

The bonhomie amongst the cadre that the few hours of a street corner meeting brings, fails to sustain the momentum after the convoy leaves the venue, as there is no bond between the parachute leader and the flag bearer.