Differences between senior Congress leaders over pushing their candidates for the final list for Telangana Assembly elections were witnessed on the second day of the scrutiny committee meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
The committee headed by Kerala MP K. Muraleedharan, which met for over eight hours on Thursday and another five hours on Friday to finalise the candidates, did a massive exercise but could not come to an agreement on majority seats.
Sources privy to the meeting said that there was a difference of opinion among the seniors on certain candidates, and they insisted on their followers being accommodated citing various reasons.
Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy was adamant on certain candidates, but a few seniors in the committee suggested other names, thus leading to a stalemate in certain constituencies. Mr. Reddy apparently wanted to wait for some more time as some strong leaders from other parties, with a high probability of winning, would join the party soon.
Consensus was also not reached on several seats due to differences between leaders on factors like ensuring social balance or accommodating senior leaders who served the party for a long time. Such seats would now be sent to the Central Election Committee (CEC) with the recommendations of the senior leaders for each candidate.
The picture was clear in only about 40 seats where senior leaders and sitting MLAs are sure to be re-nominated and there was a consensus. Moreover, those who gave a shot at such seats by submitting applications more or less backed out, making it easy for the committee. Some of these include Mr. Revanth Reddy, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka, Uttam Kumar Reddy and all the sitting MLAs.
Since winnability is the first criteria for the party, the chances of those who have been working on the ground for the last few years are brighter than those seeking tickets based just on seniority, a senior leader involved in the talks said. This is a great opportunity for the party to come back to power after a decade and the party doesn’t want to leave any scope for putting up ‘weak’ candidates due to their proximity with the top leadership.
Kanugolu’s inputs
The list prepared by the screening committee will now be scrutinised by the CEC, which will purely be on merit. The input of party strategist Sunil Kanugolu will play a key role in the final selection. But the complete list is not likely to be released officially soon. It might be out when the election schedule is announced next month.
