With the conclusion of polling in Telangana, several Congress leaders are gearing up to begin lobbying for the post of Chief Minister.
The Congress leaders are confident of their victory in the elections, whose results will be announced on May 16. They are primarily trying to capatalise on the recent statements made by their senior leaders to secure their position. There are over a dozen contenders for the CM’s post in the Congress party.
It all began with the announcement of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao who promised to make a Dalit leader, the first CM of Telangana. Soon after the passing of Telangana Bill, KCR started projecting himself for the top post. The Congress tried to capatalise on the same and Union Minister Jairam Ramesh announced that a Dalit would be made the first CM of Telangana state. Following strong protest by the leaders of other communities in the Congress party, he modified his statement and announced that a candidate from OBCs, minorities or women would be considered for the top post.
While the Telangana Congress leaders were about to recover from the impact of Jairam Ramesh’s statement, AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi himself announced during the Warangal public meeting that he wanted to see a woman as the first chief minister of Telangana state. This statement disappointed many aspirants for the CM’s post. They included Telangana PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah, who belongs to the BC community, K. Jana Reddy and Damodar Raja Narasimha, both from the SC community, D. Srinivas and V Hanumantha Rao, BC leaders and N. Uttam Kumar Reddy. Also in the race are Dr J. Geetha Reddy, D.K. Aruna and Sunitha Laxma Reddy.
These aspirants and their followers have been telling the voters in their constituencies that they will become the chief minister. They say that this way, people will vote in favour of them thinking that the CM will be from their district, bringing in all the benefits that go with it.