Revanth meets Kharge, invites him for unveiling of Rajiv Gandhi statue

Revanth Reddy meets AICC president to discuss Rajiv Gandhi statue unveiling, TPCC chief appointment postponed.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday called on AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and urged him to attend the unveiling of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s statue near Secretariat on August 20.

Mr. Reddy, who reached New Delhi in the early hours of of Friday first met the representatives of the Taiwan-based Foxconn company led by company chairman Young Liu along with Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu. Later, both of them met Mr. Kharge to discuss the party affairs and extended an invitation to attend the August 20 programme to coincide with the birth anniversary of late Rajiv Gandhi.

The Chief Minister also met AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal. Party, sources said Mr. Revanth Reddy briefed him about the August 20 programme of unveiling.

Originally, the Congress leaders had planned to invite Ms. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to grace the occasion of unveiling of the statue. The party leaders also wanted to organise a public meeting in Warangal where the farmers declaration was made by Mr. Rahul Gandhi. Chief Minister was keen to organise a thanksgiving meeting in Warangal on the same day as the Congress government had succesfully fulfilled its promise of farm loan waiver. The Warangal meeting seems unlikely now, according to sources.

In the meantime, it is understood that the announcement of new TPCC chief and proposed expansion of the State Cabinety has also been deferred by some more time. It is learnt that Friday’s meeting of Mr. Revanth Reddy with Mr. Kharge and Mr. Venugopal did not touch upon these issues.

There has been speculation that the Chief Minister visit to New Delhi would bring the curtains down on the appointment of the TPCC chief. However, no such discussions were held. Also, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Minister for Irrigation N.Uttam Kumar Reddy, who had attended previous meetings to shortlist the leaders for the top posts were not present in New Delhi on Friday.

It may be mentioned here that the there is growing demand within the party to chose a leader from among the BC, SC and ST communities for the TPCC chief’s post. TPCC working president and MLC B. Mahesh Kumar Goud and former MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud are lobbying hard for the post from the BC quota while Mahabubabad MP and former Union minister Porike Balaram Naik is hoping to get the nod from the ST community. Equally AICC secretary and former MLA S. A. Sampath Kumar is eyeing the TPCC president’s post from among the SC’s.