Congress to follow BJP way, to allot 5 tickets to BCs

Hyderabad: With BJP announcing 5 BC candidates in its first list of Lok Sabha candidates for Telangana, Congress party is also gearing up to give at least 4 to 5 tickets to BC candidates for ensuing polls.

According to party sources, the Congress party has been pondering over giving maximum seats to BC candidates this time and deliberations have been continuing with the party for some time. Even during the recently held meeting of Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) the number of seats allocated to the Backward Classes was discussed in detail. “Besides Secunderabad, Zaheerabad, the party is pondering over giving tickets to candidates from Karimnagar, Bhongir or Medak. With Secunderabad and Zaheerabad almost confirmed with BonthuRammohan and Suresh Kumar Shetakar respectively, other three places are under consideration,” informed a senior leader.

In the latest meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee with Screening committee held at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s residence on Friday the top leaders including AICC incharge, Deepa Dasmunshi where more than half of the names were cleared. There was also indepth discussion over the selection of BC candidates for Lok Sabha polls. The meeting was attended by Screening Committee chairperson Harish Chaudhary, Jignesh Mevani and other members, besides Ministers and top leaders from State. “Since BJP has already nominated 5 candidates, the Congress should be considering at least 4. Otherwise the BJP may have political advantage given the fact that Congress has been throwing emphasis on proper representation of OBCs,” said one of the aspirants.

It may be mentioned here that during the run up for Assembly polls in 2023, the PCC had adopted a resolution of allotting one third of seats to BCs. But when it came to allocate the tickets to the community the numbers fell short. Even in the present Cabinet of Revanth Reddy, there are only two BC MLAs as Ministers including Ponnam Prabhakar and Konda Surekha. However, the PCC leadership is trying to balance this by inviting turncoats into the party fold for contesting in ensuing polls, which is not going down well with the loyal party leaders. “Neelam Madhu and BonthuRammohan have shifted their loyalties and are amongst the top of aspirants now and said to have cleared their names. What about those over 300 applicants at Gandhi Bhavan?” asked the leader.