Telangana Assembly elections: Congress appoints Ramesh Chennithala as special observer ahead of polls

New Delhi: Stepping up its campaign management in Telangana, Congress on Wednesday, appointed Congress Working Committee member Ramesh Chennithala as Special Observer besides drafting in four more Karnataka leaders as Lok Sabha Observers.

The party leadership had last Saturday appointed 58 senior Karnataka leaders – ten ministers as cluster in-charges, and 35 MLAs and 13 MLCs as constituency in-charges – for campaign management in Telangana which will go to polls on November 30.

It has now added four more leaders as Lok Sabha Observers -- MLC U B Venkatesh, former ministers N H Shivashankara Reddy and Rajashekar B Patil and former MLA Anjali Nimbalkar.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has campaigned in some parts of the poll-bound states in the past week and the Congress leadership has decided to rope in more leaders from the neighbouring state.

Dinesh Gundu Rao, Priyank Kharge, M C Sudhakar, S P Patil, K H Muniyappa, Krishna Byre Gowda, Shivaraj S Tangadagi, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Eshawara Khandre and B Nagendra are the ministers who have been appointed as AICC cluster in-charges.

The renewed push from the central leadership in Telangana came amid party’s calculation that it has dramatically improved its position in the state in the past couple of months and it stands a chance to spring a surprise, as claimed in some surveys.

In late October, the Congress had appointed senior leader Dr Ajoy Kumar as the in-charge of the entire communications, including media, social media and war room, for the Telangana elections. 

In Rajasthan where the party is holding 'Congress Guarantees’ Yatra', it has appointed senior leaders Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Ranjeet Ranjan, R C Khuntia, Udit Raj and Pradeep Tamta.