HYDERABAD: As soon as the curtains came down on municipal elections the senior leaders of the Congress met at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday and dashed off a letter to party supremo Sonia Gandhi to ensure that there would be wide consultation with party leaders before taking any decision on replacing TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy.
The party leaders — V Hanumantha Rao, M Kodanda Reddy, Mari Shashidhar Reddy and S Chandrasekhar — drafted the letter in such a way that they could carry their message across to the party president that they would not like Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy lording over them as president of the TPCC. The letter was more in the nature of an attempt to pre-empt Revanth Reddy from becoming the chief of TPCC. The seniors had suggested to the party chief to look for a blemishless leader for taking up the party leadership responsibility in the State, implying that Revanth Reddy carries the taint of cash-for-vote scam.
They also wanted Sonia Gandhi to look for a leader with a commitment to party ideology which again intended to convey to her that Revath Reddy had migrated to the Congress from the TDP only recently. They also pointed out that they want a leader who can take all sections in their stride, again implying that Revanth Reddy mixes with the Congress leaders akin to how oil mixes with water.
The party leaders wanted Sonia Gandhi to appoint a leader who can leverage on the decision of the party in the creation of Telangana and help it come to power. They wanted a leader who is acceptable to everyone since the immediate priority was to revive the party whose life is on the line.
The leaders seem to be in a hurry with signals emanating from Delhi that the party would name a new leader as president of TPCC and the seniors appeared bent on frustrating Revanth Reddy’s attempts to ascend the throne. Ever since Revanth Reddy joined the Congress, he had incurred the wrath of the leaders of his own caste who saw in him a threat to aspirations to step into Uttam Kumar Reddy’s shoes. Though all the Reddys in the Congress joined hands to target him, he managed to stay afloat.
His glib talk at Delhi helped him become a working president of the party. Very recently, he had met several leaders seeking their blessings for his dream of leading the party come true.