Cong's Hanumantha Rao wants BJP-ally Pawan Kalyan to be party's Telangana unit chief

A day after threatening that he will resign from Congress along with his supporters if Revanth Reddy is made the Telangana Congress chief, Senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao has spoken in favour of BJP-ally Pawan Kalyan. In what seemed to be an offer to Kalyan, he said that if Kalyan jumps ships, then he would help him become Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief.

Speaking at an event organised to inaugurate a statue of slain Congress leader Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga at Dhondapadu village in Suryapet district, Hanumantha Rao said that he will speak to interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi about giving the top post to Pawan Kalyan. In order to woo Kalyan, he said that latter would not get anything by extending support to BJP. 

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“Pawan think it over. You will not get anything if you support BJP as the saffron party will simply enjoy power with your support. You have emerged as a leader on your own capacity. Why do you want to stand behind someone? Come to Congress. I will speak to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to make you PCC chief of AP. I want a Kapu leader to emerge,” Hanumantha Rao said.  “There is a vacuum in the Congress in AP. If you come, you can rule the State as you have 27 per cent of Kapu votebank, and the support of 20 per cent BCs, SCs, and STs,” he added.

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Hanumantha Rao threatens to resign 

Rao had on Friday threatened to resign along with other party leaders, if Revanth Reddy, is made the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief. Congress, after its crushing defeat in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Council Elections and BJP's rise in the South, is looking to re-establish itself and it is likely to choose Revanth Reddy - who is from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background - as the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief. 

Opposing the same, Rao said, "Many senior Congress leaders, including me, are ready to resign from the party if ex-RSS member Revanth Reddy is made the TPCC president. Many senior Congress leaders have spent a lifetime fighting against the RSS and now an ex-RSS member is being made the TPCC president. We can't work under an ex-RSS candidate." 

Hitting out at Reddy, Rao pointed out that he never stuck to a single party. "Reddy originally belonged to the RSS and then joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, after which he moved to the Telugu Desam Party and after completely destroying it, he is now destroying the Congress too," he said. Urging Congress president Sonia Gandhi to rethink her decision, he added, "I would like to tell the central leadership of the Congress that they have been given a wrong report on Reddy. Even when he joined Congress, there had been no background verification. He was directly given the post of the TPCC working president."

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'Bhagyanagar' meet

Earlier on December 10, the BJP leaders met Tollywood actor-turned-politician and Janasena founder Pawan Kalyan. Andhra BJP co-in-charge Sunil Deodhar said that a joint meeting was held in 'Bhagyanagar' to discuss various political issues pertaining to Andhra Pradesh. Deodhar said that the issues discussed were immediate compensation to Nivar cyclone-affected farmers, implementation of EWS reservations, poor road conditions and mystery around Eluru disease.

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