Discontent has erupted in Telangana Congress at leaders who joined from rival parties recently getting tickets to contest Lok Sabha elections 2024 at the cost of existing party leaders.
On Thursday night, the Congress announced five candidates from Telangana for upcoming Lok Sabha polls — Danam Nagender from Secunderabad, Sunitha Mahender Reddy from Malkajgiri, Gaddam Vamsi Krishna from Peddapalli, Gaddam Ranjith Reddy from Chevella and Mallu Ravi from Nagarkurnool. Danam Nagender, Ranjith Reddy and Sunitha Mahender Reddy are recent additions to the Congress who jumped over from the BRS.
On Friday, senior Congress leader G Niranjan wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, asking him to reconsider the decision to give tickets to the three defectors. Niranjan is the senior vice-president and chairman of the Election Commission Coordination Committee in the Telangana Congress.
“The people of Telangana have defeated BRS and voted the Congress party to power with a wish to have a change of power in the state, but fielding D Nagender, Sunita Reddy and Ranjith Reddy as Congress candidates is against the expectations of the people and is also insult to the Congress cadre and will demoralise them. We also have to consider what message it gives to the people and cadre,” the letter said.
“We request your good self to reconsider the decision and to field committed and loyal Congress men who stood by the party during good and bad days, in all 17 Lok Sabha segments. If we really want to have ‘Indiramma Rajyam’, we should recollect how Indira Gandhi ji selected and fielded the candidates who are sincere and honest towards the party and its leadership, irrespective of their financial background,” he added.
In the past month, there has been a steady stream of defection from the BRS to the Congress. The Lok Sabha election is set to become a fight between the Congress and the BJP, with cadre deserting the pink party, especially after the arrest of BRS leader K Kavitha in the Delhi liquor policy case.
After Khairtabad MLA Danam Nagender joined the Congress, BRS MLAs submitted a request to the Telangana Assembly Speaker to disqualify him under the anti-defection law. However, that did not stop the Congress from making him the candidate from Secunderabad, a seat that was reportedly being courted by another defector from BRS, Bonthu Rammohan.
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