Telangana Congress leaders cancel meet after top brass intervention

Senior Congress leaders in Telangana, who had complained that those who recently joined the party got prominence at the cost of "original leaders and activists", cancelled a meeting on Tuesday following the intervention of AICC leader Digvijaya Singh. Former MLA A Maheshwar Reddy told reporters that Singh called up and informed him that he would visit Hyderabad shortly to address the concerns raised by the senior leaders.

Maheshwar Reddy welcomed the AICC's decision of entrusting the job of speaking to the senior leaders to Singh and expressed confidence that the issues would be resolved with the intervention of the latter. He further said there are no demands for the senior State leaders and that their slogan has been "Save Congress." Asked why the situation of "Save Congress" cropped up, he said the senior leaders sought "equal justice and social balance".

Meanwhile, senior vice-president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) welcomed the national leadership entrusting the responsibility of addressing the issue to Digvijaya Singh. Ravi said TPCC Working President Mahesh Kumar Goud met the senior leaders today and that all of them spoke positively. The party can fight on people's issues to pave the way for its growth if there is unity among leaders, he said.

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The Congress in Telangana has been hit by internal feud with some senior leaders alleging that those who "migrated" to Congress from other parties got prominence in party posts. More than 10 leaders had resigned from their PCC posts in response to these remarks. The leaders who quit on Sunday include sitting Congress MLA Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) and former legislator Vem Narendar Reddy.

Former deputy chief minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh Damodar Rajanarasimha on Saturday, in an apparent reference to some of the former TDP leaders who joined the Congress, sought to know what message would it give to "original Congress activists" if those who "migrated" to the Congress from other parties got prominence. He was flanked by Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, party Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy, former MP Madhu Yashki Goud and party MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy (known as Jagga Reddy) when he made the comments. The senior leaders held a meeting on Saturday.

The dissatisfaction of these leaders is seen as directed towards State Congress president and MP A Revanth Reddy. After the Congress's poor performance in the recent bypoll to the Munugode Assembly constituency, the party's State unit has been facing the infighting as several party leaders expressed dissatisfaction over the recently announced jumbo PCC committees.