Crisis deepens in Telangana Congress, 13 leaders quit party posts

Hyderabad, Dec 18:  The crisis in the Congress' Telangana unit deepened on Sunday with 13 leaders, who had defected to the party from the TDP in the past, announcing their resignations from party posts.

Narender Reddy, Seethakka, Vijay Rama Rao, Erra Shekhar, and others said they would send their resignations to Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Working President.

This came a day after some senior leaders announced the launching of "save Congress in Telangana" movement to protect the party from leaders who came from other parties. They called a battle between the original Congress and migrants from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

This was seen as an open revolt against state chief A. Revanth Reddy, who came to the Congress from the TDP a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the Revanth Reddy group is planning to counter the allegations made by senior leaders, who were unhappy with him over packing recently announced party executive with migrants from the TDP.

The group wants to highlight that the allegations made by the dissidents will weaken the organisation.

In another development, the central leadership of the party has taken a serious view of the happenings in the state unit. AICC in charge Secretaries are reported to be in touch with dissident leaders. Some central leaders are likely to meet the dissident group on Monday.

Senior party leaders, who have been in the party from the start of their respective political careers, on Saturday declared that they are launching a 'Save Congress in Telangana' movement to protect the party from what they described as a leader who came into the Congress after shifting loyalties from party to party.

The meeting of the senior leaders was held at the residence of Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. Former state President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, MLA T. Jagga Reddy, Madhu Yashki Goud, Damodar Rajnarasimha, and A. Maheshwar Reddy were among those who attended the meeting.