After TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy announced that no party member would meet the Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha during the latter’s visit to the city on Saturday, the Telangana Congress sought an appointment to meet him in New Delhi.
“We have sought appointment with Mr. Sinha’s office and the Telangana Congress leaders will meet him in New Delhi whenever the appointment is given,” AICC incharge for Telangana, Manickam Tagore said.
Mr. Revanth Reddy is strongly opposed to the idea of a meeting with Mr. Yashwant Sinha in Hyderabad as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has made big plans to welcome the opposition parties’ nominee. The TRS has planned a huge rally on Saturday from Begumpet Airport where Mr. Sinha will land to meet the opposition parties seeking support to his candidature.
The Congress chief left no doubts i anyone’s mind of the party policy to maintain distance from the TRS against whom it is fighting in Telangana for the last 8 years. Mr. Reddy went on to say that Mr. Sinha was not a Congress candidate and the party was only supporting his candidature. “So the argument that he is being put in an awkward position is ridiculous,” he argued.
A senior leader rejected any difference of opinion on the issue within the party and said Mr. Sinha’s office has been informed about the party’s predicament in Telangana and it should not be seen in any other sense. “We don’t want the BJP to launch another misleading campaign against the Congress just because Mr. Sinha visits the Gandhi Bhavan after meeting the TRS,” a senior leader said.
The TRS will also try to confuse people by using the Congress predicament of welcoming Mr. Sinha to Gandhi Bhavan after meeting Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and also participating in a programme being held in his honour, according to Mr. Reddy’s close aides.
“Both BJP and TRS are together irrespective of their posture outside. They will use every opportunity to malign Congress. We don’t want to give any scope,” he said.
