Uttam tipped to be CLP leader

​Hyderabad: The Congress may elect PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy as leader of the Legislature Party and he may become the leader of the opposition in the Assembly. The Legislature Party of the Congress may meet this weekend or early in the next week to elect the leader. Uttam Kumar may be elected as leader of the CLP, as per indications. 

The Congress is in no hurry to hold the meeting of the CLP to elect new leader since the Assembly meet may not be held this month. Leaders of the party said that the TRS government may opt to hold the budget sessions in February next year due to its own reasons.

The Congress, which has won 19 seats in the Assembly, is required to elect one of its MLAs as a leader since it would be playing the main opposition role. Its leader would become the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).

However, according to sources, a few other leaders were also claiming the post of the leader of CLP. The sources said that former working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, newly-elected MLAs P Sabitha Reddy and D Sridhar Babu are in the race. 

Apart from Uttam, Sabitha, Vikramarka and Sridhar Babu, others are juniors. Supporters of Bhatti Vikramarka said that since several SC and ST candidates have won on behalf of the Congress, the former working president should be given the chance. Election of Vikramarka would also send signals into the people that the Congress has given priority to a SC leader.

Party leaders said that Uttam has better chances to become leader of the CLP since several MLAs who won the election this time are his loyalists and they may support him. The AICC may give him a chance to lead the party in the Assembly to face the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti. The AICC may take up the CLP leader issue after formation of governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Uttam may be continued as chief of the PCC and leader of the CLP in view of upcoming elections to Parliament.

The leadership of the PCC may be changed after the end of the election process of the Lok Sabha as the AICC may not like to make changes before the commencement of the process of parliamentary election.

The Congress, though a loser in the Assembly election, has big hopes on parliamentary election in the state as the party is emerging as favorite all over the country. It has been hoping that a win of 8 to 10 Lok Sabha seats would help the state unit to gain its lost ground.