Telangana Congress facing crisis of credibility?

Hyderabad: In order to corner the ruling TRS, the Congress Party has been throwing its weight behind Telangana Joint Action Committee Chairman M Kodandaram who has been waging a fight against the State government on various issues.

Congress leaders support to Kodandaram for his ‘Sphoorthi Yatra’ is a big example for this. Senior Congress leader V Haumantha Rao and others have been supporting the TJAC chairman vociferously to gain some political mileage.

With continuous electoral defeats at the hands of the ruling TRS, the Congress in the State has been facing an uphill task in the politics of the State and the leadership is unable to instill confidence among the party cadres. The Congress High Command is also very much worried about the prospects of the party.

The agitations being taken up by Congress during the past three years have not yielded the desired results and it forced the party to come up with strategies that would put the organisation in the forefront again.

Political observers feel that party is facing a crisis of credibility and is unable to attract the masses towards it even after three years. Its preparations to the next general elections would go in vain unless it builds up the credibility among the people and voters.

As far as Kodandaram is concerned, he is considered as leader with some degree of credibility commanding respect among the voters and the people as he was the chairman of the JAC which fought for Telangana. His messages would strike a chord with the people and would get some response from them Keeping this in view, the Congress wants to gain some mileage from the agitations of Kodandaram.

The government’s resolve to prevent Kodandaram from taking up the Sphoorthi Yatra has come as a golden opportunity for the party to corner the government. Congress leaders questioned the intentions of the State government on stopping Kodandaram from taking up the tour and went on to extend their support to him by visiting his residence.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao who is very angry with Kodandaram is criticising him in harsh terms and the Congress wants to attack the Chief Minister by extending support to Kodandaram.

Though it is not yet clear about the future politics of Kodandaram, who is presumed to start his own political party, Congress is hoping to gain some political mileage by supporting him in the present conditions. If Kodandaram’s agitations give a boost to the anti-incumbency wave, the Congress is hoping to benefit from it.