#Revanth: The Only Option Left for T Congress

The Dubbak bypoll results have raised a new discussion among the Congress cadre in Telangana. There is talk that the party leadership is planning to change the man at the helm of affairs in the state.

In Dubbak, BJP candidate Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao registered victory in an unprecedented manner with a wafer-thin majority of 1,075 votes against TRS rival candidate Solipeta Sujatha, wife of Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy, whose sudden demise necessitated the bypolls.

Meanwhile, the Congress was pushed to the third position in the bypolls. BJP’s Raghunandan Rao has received 63,352 votes, while TRS’ Solipeta Sujatha secured 62,273 votes. Congress party’s Cheruku Srinivas Reddy received only 22,196 votes, according to data released by the Election Commission of India.

The Congress’ poor performance, it is being said, has made the party leadership think of changing the guard in Telangana. There is buzz in political circles that the party leadership is planning to replace Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy with firebrand leader A. Revanth Reddy who joined the party in October, 2017.

With no young and dynamic leader except Revanth Reddy, it looks like he is the last option left for the Telangana Congress party.

He had been the TDP working president before joining the Congress. In 2015, he was arrested in the “cash-for-vote” case after he was caught on camera allegedly offering money to a nominated MLA for his vote in the MLC election.

After joining the Congress, he contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and won as the MP from Malkajgiri constituency. He contested against TRS Marri Rajasekhara Reddy, TDP’s Vijay Kumar Goud Mouthala and BJP’s Ramachander Rao Naraparaju. He also was made the Telangana Congress working president.

There might be several reasons for the Congress poor performance in the Dubbak bypolls but it is the party chief Uttam Kumar Reddy who would be held responsible for the results. The Congress leaders said that the results of the Dubbak bypolls was okay and on expected lines.

Now, it has to be seen if the Congress would swing into action and change the guard in Telangana and also if that would really bring good tidings to the party in the next elections.