Congress leaders pitch for Sonia Gandhi to contest from Telangana

Hyderabad: Congress leaders from Telangana are pitching for former party chief Sonia Gandhi to contest from one of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state for Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Telangana Congress feels Sonia contesting from the state will help the Grand old Party sustain the momentum that was built after the party's historic win in the recently held Assembly polls.

Congress leaders often call Sonia as 'Telangana Thalli'.

Telangana Congress' Political Affairs Committee (PAC) that met here on Monday had also passed a resolution urging the Gandhi senior to contest from Telangana for the Lok Sabha polls.

This is the first PAC meet held after the November 30 polls.

In the meeting where CM A Revanth Reddy and Congress' Telangana affairs in-charge Manik Rao Thakre had participated, discussed about the party's strategy for the Lok Sabha polls besides passing three resolutions.

In the past, former PM Indira Gandhi contested from Medak (erstwhile Andhra Pradesh) in 1980 polls. She was elected from the seat by a staggering margin of over 3 lakh votes and represented the constituency till her assassination in 1984.

Until the emergence of TRS (now called BRS), Medak, adjacent to greater Hyderabad region, had remained a strong bastion of Congress till the year 2000.

“PAC had passed a unanimous resolution urging Sonia Gandhi to contest from Telangana in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. We are sending the resolution to Mallikarjun Kharge and other AICC leadership to request her to contest from Telangana. In the past Indira Gandhi too had contested from Medak. We want the same history to repeat. As 'Telangana Thalli', people of the state and Congress workers are looking forward to Gandhi contesting from here,” said party's PAC convener in Telangana Sahabbir Ali after the meeting.

Though it was Congress-led UPA that had carved out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, bowing to the aspirations of the people in this region, the Grand Old Party was so riddled with internal rift and weak local leadership that it could not capitalise on the formation of the new state in 2014.

BRS supremo, K Chandrashekar Rao, on the other hand, took credit for splitting the state and successfully milked the struggle electorally, ensuring that his party ruled the state for two straight terms.

“Sonia Gandhi contesting from Telangana would definitely take the momentum built with the Assembly polls victory to the next level. This will have an overwhelmingly positive impact on all the 17 Lok Sabha seats. It's very important for the party to perform better in Telangana and Karnataka,” a senior Congress leader told DH.

Sonia, in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, had contested from two seats, Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, and Bellary in Karnataka. She secured victories in both the seats.

On September 17, Sonia announced the six guarantees for Telangana, and made an emotional appeal saying, “I, along with my colleagues, had the opportunity to be part of the birth of this great state of Telangana. It has been my dream to see a Congress government in Telangana that will work for every section of society. Are you going to support us? Jai Hind.. Jai Telangana.”