Mallikarjun Kharge speaks to Bhatti Vikramarka, Digvijay Singh to douse fire in TPCC

HYDERABAD: In a quick, fire-fighting measure to contain the trouble within the TPCC, All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday spoke to senior Telangana Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka over phone and reportedly promised to address the concerns of the party's old guard.

Kharge was learnt to have conveyed to Bhatti Vikramarka that if there were any issues concerning the seniors, the party would address them. There should be no squabbles during the election year, Kharge was reported to have said on this occasion.

The AICC president was also believed to have advised Bhattu Vikramarka to discuss everything with senior Congress MP Digvijay Singh and work to strengthen the party rather than complicate matters. The party high command is reportedly sending the former Madhya Pradesh to Hyderabad to trouble-shoot and resolve the crisis in the TPCC.

According to reports, MP Digvijay Singh also spoke to Bhatti Vikaramarka and Maheswar Reddy and informed them that he would be visiting Hyderabad in two days.

He urged the seniors to desist from holding their planned meeting on Tuesday (December 20, 2022). With the pacification efforts clearly working, the senior leaders decided against holding the meeting on Tuesday.

A few of the senior Telangana Congress leaders are upset with TPCC chief Revanth Reddy especially after the new committees of the party for Telangana were announced recently. They are of the feeling that leaders who have been loyal to the party for decades were overlooked while the recent entrants from the TDP were richly rewarded, in an indirect dig at Revanth Reddy.

The issue snowballed into a major confrontation with 13 of the TDP migrants into the Congress deciding to relinquish their new positions within the TPCC. They sent their resignations to the party incharge Manickam Tagore. Realising the lurking dangers from the simmering dissidence and infighting, the party high command swung into action to douse the fire and keep the party united during the all-crucial election year.

Meanwhile, speculation was also rife on the BJP jumping in to cash in on the ongoing trouble within the TPCC. Unconfirmed reports claimed that BJP's Telangana State Unit President Bandi Sanjay held a marathon secret meeting with at least four of the senior Congress leaders, in a bid to woo them into his party's fold. Bandi Sanjay was reportedly given the mandate by the BJP top leadership to go all out in fulfilling the 'aspirations' of these Congress senior leaders to ensuring their joining the saffron party.