The Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) meeting of the Telangana Congress was devoid of fire and fury, though there were requests and suggestions that the party’s core ideals should not be forgotten while allocating tickets.
Confidential
All the PEC members were given a booklet of more than 1,000 pages with complete details of the 1,006 aspirants, who applied for tickets, and they were asked to suggest the best name or more than one or two names if they wished to suggest a few for final consideration. The exercise was totally confidential with each member ticking on the names they felt would be right based on various criteria.
TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy asked the members to give in writing if they wished to make any suggestions so that the written statements could be forwarded to the steering committee and the party high command.
Former PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah said he wanted to contest and sought the Jangaon ticket for himself. TPCC working president and Sangareddy MLA Jagga Reddy said that a situation should not be created where a former PCC chief should be made to request a ticket. However, Mr. Revanth Reddy asked them to give the same in writing to be forwarded to the Screening Committee that would start meeting PEC members from Monday.
Senior leader V. Hanumantha Rao asked the party not to consider Backward Classes’ candidates in the segments falling under the Hyderabad Parliamentary constituency as they would not stand a chance to win and should be accommodated elsewhere.
Complaints galore
Even as the PEC meeting was on, there were various complaints against leaders from various constituencies urging the party not to consider their names. A group of cadre from Wanaparthy submitted a written statement to senior leaders asking them not to favour former minister G. Chinna Reddy from Wanaparthy as he was never available in the constituency. Similar requests were made for other constituencies like Illendu, where the aspirants are the highest.
The Youth Congress sought two tickets — Shivasena Reddy (Wanaparthy) and Rajeev Reddy (Gadwal), while NSUI sought three tickets for the cadre, including Huzurabad ticket to NSUI State president Balmoori Venkat.
