Poaching of leaders keeps Congress on tenterhooks

Hyderabad: The Congress is on tenterhooks as other parties have been trying to poach its leaders. The party is trying its best to see that this would not affect the morale of the cadre adversely.

Party leaders said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started a mind game and has been trying to create chaos in the rank and file of the party. Already the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has been admitting Congress leaders through one or other way.

After the bifurcation of erstwhile combined Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana, the Congress has been facing the problem of poaching. During the 2014-18 it has faced poaching trouble from the TRS.

Several MLAs of the Congress have crossed over to TRS during the previous term of the Assembly. Party's Rajya Sabha member and former president of the Pradesh Congress Committee of erstwhile combined Andhra Pradesh D Srinivas joined the TRS in 2015.

Several leaders of district level continued to migrate to TRS in the past five years. The TRS gained strength with the entry of the Congress leaders and won several elections including elections to Assembly.

The problem of defections continued even during the second term of the Assembly which came into effect in December 2018. About 12 MLAs of the party have crossed over to the TRS. Leaders including Vanteru Pratap Reddy and few others joined the Congress in the past six months.

While the Congress was still facing the migration of leaders to TRS, several leaders opted to join the Bharatiya Janata Party before the Parliament elections. Several senior leaders like D K Aruna, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and others joined the saffron party. MLA from Munugodu K Rajagopal Reddy is allegedly ready to join the BJP.

It has been a week since the rumours started making rounds in the political circles about possible defections. News spread among the political circles that few senior leaders of the Congress got in touch with the BJP leaders and are planning to join the saffron party.

This has been unnerving the Congress leaders and they are suspecting about the defection of their friends. They have been trying to find out who wants to go to BJP through their sources.

However, the Congress leaders have been stating that the BJP has been playing a mind game with their leaders to poach them. They said by showing the win of BJP in the Parliament elections, the BJP is trying to attract the Congress leaders.

They said this was a critical phase for the Congress and the party could overcome the problems. "Let us wait till the announcement of the elections to the municipalities and people would know the real strength of the BJP," TPCC treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said.

He said the BJP has been showcasing its victory in the Parliament elections and luring the Congress leaders. However, the BJP did not really gain strength in the State. The win was an effect of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma which would not last long.

He said the municipal elections would show the real strength of the BJP in the State and would reveal the strength of the parties of the State. The Congress would definitely make gains and would emerge stronger.

He said once the real strength of the BJP is revealed the leaders of the State would realise which party is favoured by the people. He said selfish leaders would always look for green pastures.