Congress high command firm on one family-one seat

​Hyderabad: The Congress high command on Saturday has more or less made it clear that ‘one family- one seat’ rule would be strictly followed in the state in the ensuing Assembly elections. However, the high command is likely to give exemption to PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy brothers families, keeping in mind their status in the party. The high command may reject the requests of other leaders to give tickets to their family members.

According to party leaders, as many as 11 senior leaders are making requests for tickets to their spouses or to their kin. Former CLP leader in the Assembly K Jana Reddy sought ticket for his son Raghuvira Reddy, former MLA DK Aruna is seeking ticket to her daughter Snigdha Reddy, campaign committee chairman M Bhatti Vikramarka for his wife Nandini, former minister J Geetha Reddy for her daughter Meghana Reddy and senior leader Konda Surekha for her daughter Kavitha.

In the same way, former deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha sought ticket for his wife Padmini Reddy, former MP Anjan Kumar Yadav for his son Anil, former minister Sabitha Reddy for her son Karthik Reddy, former minister Mukhesh Goud for his son Vikram Goud, former minister Ponnala Laxmaiah for his daughter-in-law Vaisali and former minister G Venkata Ramana Reddy for his wife Jyothi. Along with Uttam and Komatireddy brothers’ families, these leaders have been seeking 13 tickets to their spouses and kin, taking total number of tickets to their families to 26.

This has made the high command to take a serious view of the situation. The AICC which wants to ensure social justice and justice to the workers in distribution of the tickets is inclined to see that workers who have been working for the party since a few decades are not deprived of party tickets due to the entry of kin of the senior leaders.

The high command is of the view that giving tickets to a few families would virtually limit the party only to few families and this would have an adverse impact on the prospects of the party. As the exercise to finalise the candidates has reached the crucial stage, the high command once again made it clear that one-ticket-to-one-family rule would be scrupulously followed.

According to senior leaders, this message is a clear indication to the AICC screening committee which has been undertaking the candidates selection that it should not consider the applications of the members of the senior family members.

‘Praja Kutami’
On the other hand, the leaders of the proposed alliance have formally met on Saturday morning and discussed the issues before them. They discussed the change of the name of the front. According to sources, the leaders of the front want to name the alliance as ‘Praja Kutami’ or ‘Prajaswamya Parirakshana Kutami’. The name would be finalized at the time of formal announcement of the alliance.

The alliance leaders stated that though there were some issues in finalizing the number of seats to be shared, the talks are continuing in a positive atmosphere and the alliance would take shape soon. They made it clear that the common minimum programme of the alliance would be announced soon as the draft was ready and there were no disputes on it among the alliance parties.