In a significant revelation, Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said that the party will give two assembly election tickets to Mynampally Hanumantha Rao’s family, who just quit the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) because his son, Rohith Rao, was not nominated. The decision has raised eyebrows as many leaders in the grand old party asking for two tickets per family were reportedly turned down. This also goes against the All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s Udaipur Declaration.
Speaking to the media in an informal chat at his Congress Legislative Party (CLP) office in Hyderabad, Reddy said: “We are making an exception for the Mynampally family. We have promised them two tickets and they will be joining the party formally soon.”
Prominent Congress leaders who have reportedly asked for two tickets each are Nalgonda MP Uttam Kumar Reddy who has requested nominations for himself and his wife N Padmavathi Reddy, former minister Jana Reddy for his two sons, Mulugu MLA D Seethakka and her son Surya, former minister Konda Surekha and her husband Konda Murali, former MP Anjan Kumar Yadav for his two sons, former union minister Balaram Naik for himself and his son, former MLA P Vishnuvardhan Reddy and his sister Vijaya Reddy, senior leader R Ramya Rao and her son Ritesh Rao, and others.
Thus, the decision to give two tickets to the Mynampally family can open a can of worms. Revanth Reddy and Mynampally Hamumantha Rao are reportedly close friends as they were in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) earlier. While Rao was the BRS MLA from the Malkajgiri seat, Reddy represents the constituency in the Lok Sabha.
Hanumantha Rao was given a ticket from the BRS for the 2023 polls, but he was not happy. Before the party’s list was out, a video had surfaced in which Rao was heard saying that he would quit the BRS if his son Rohith was not given a ticket from the Medak constituency. He had even levelled corruption charges against health minister T Harish Rao and said that the latter was responsible for the poor development in Medak. The minister’s supporters were reportedly surprised when Hanumantha Rao was given a BRS ticket despite his remarks. The MLA finally announced his resignation from the “pink party”, alleging that there was no democracy or transparency in its functioning.
Stating that the first candidate list would be out soon, Revanth Reddy said on Wednesday: “List will be out after approval from the Central Election Committee. At the first level, Pradesh Congress Committees make the list. It’s then scrutinised by the screening committee. After that, it’s approved by CEC. We consider the opinions of various sections in our party.”
When asked to respond to the opposition’s repeated allegation that the six guarantees announced by the Congress are not monetarily feasible, he said: “Instead of taking 30 per cent commission out of every government project like the BRS does, we will use that money for our welfare schemes.”
He added that, according to his party’s surveys, the BRS is going to win only 25 seats and the BJP and AIMIM will bag seats in single digits.
In its Udaipur Declaration in 2022, the party had said: “If another member in one’s family is politically active, then only after five years of organizational experience that person should be considered eligible for Congress ticket.”
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