Congress forced to lock Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad to void chaos, protests

HYDERABAD: Chaos and confusion reigned in the Telangana Congress on Tuesday, a day after the party announced its third list of candidates.

Familiar scenes unfolded as the Gandhi Bhavan was the target of cadres whose leaders were denied tickets. Congress leader Bellaiah Nayak, who was denied a ticket from Kamareddy, staged a silent protest in the premises.

Meanwhile, cadres of other leaders too started their agitation outside the Bhavan. But taking cue from the protests and suicide bids in the premises after the party released its lists in the last one month, the party decided to lock its premises to prevent any backlash from its partymen.

With no place to vent their ire,

followers of senior Congress leader Kata Srinivas Goud from Patancheru, tried to besiege the house of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Revanth Reddy. Goud was miffed that Neelam Madhu Mudiraj, who had joined the Congress from the BRS recently, was given the ticket instead of him from Patancheru.

Goud had been working with the party for the last 20 years and expected a ticket.

Similarly there were protests against the grand old party in Narayankhed, , Boath, Wanaparthy, Chennur, Palakurti, Dornakal, Tungaturthi and Sangareddy.

The party even changed the candidates for Wanaparthy and Boath, replacing former Minister G Chinna Reddy and Vannela Ashok with Tudi Megha Reddy and Ade Gajender respectively. The party apparently went by survey reports and changed the candidates. However this did not go down well with the leaders and their cadre who protested and raised slogans outside the Gandhi Bhavan.

The grouse of many leaders was that seats were allotted to new entrants and those who had worked for the party for years were sidelined.

The common reason stated by many leaders including Ragidi Laxma Reddy from Uppal, Corporators Shirisha Reddy and her husband Singireddy Somasekhar Reddy from AS Rao Nagar, V Subhash Reddy from Yellareddy who were denied tickets was that Revanth Reddy sold tickets in return for benefits in kind including cash and allotment of land.

Simiarly, the TPCC secretary Ajay Kumar, who was denied a ticket from Gadwal, has raised a banner of revolt, former minister N Janardhan Reddy, who was expecting a ticket from Nagarkurnool constituency, had slammed the State leadership while Chintapalli Jagadeeshwar Rao, who was denied a ticket from Kollapur, hinted that he would enter the fray as a rebel.

In another senstational revelation, Bhuvanagiri Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy had said that "Even if we win 59 seats (out of 119), our MLAs would go end up joining the BRS," stating that staying in power was a priority for the present candidates that serving their people and party loyally.

With the number of dissidents rising imperiously, Revanth Reddy has his task cut out for keeping his flock together.