Congress 'Grand' plans to resurrect party in Seemandhra

HYDERABAD: Despite the headwinds it is facing in Seemandhra after Parliament's nod for bifurcation of the state, the Congress high command wants to woo its traditional voters back to its fold by convincing them that division of Andhra Pradesh will be helpful for the political empowerment of downtrodden classes, which could not go up in the political ladder in a united state.

Even though several of its leaders from Seemandhra predict bleak electoral future for the party in the ensuing general polls, the AICC leadership is not ready to accept the party's defeat. It has formulated a blueprint for its Seemandhra leaders on how to convince the party's traditional voters across the region of its T-decision.

In that blueprint, the Congress leadership defended its T-decision broadly on three counts.

One, the party has decided to bifurcate AP only after all other parties have given their consent. Hence, it is meaningless to portray the ruling party as the prime culprit for the division.

If the Congress has made a sin by bifurcating the state, then all other parties are also equally responsible for the decision as they had earlier wrote letters to the Centre demanding the division.

Two, even though the Centre has divided the state, Seemandhra has not been left in the lurch as is being alleged by the opposition parties. At the behest of Sonia Gandhi, the Centre has given several sops to the residuary state for its development.

Three, the division of AP will end the political dominance of two powerful social communities and thus paves way for the political uplift of the downtrodden.

During their recent Delhi visit, apart from PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, Seemandhra Congress seniors such as Kanna Lakshminarayana, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, N Raghuveera Reddy and Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao have been asked to hold meetings in each district with party cadres to convince them of the Centre's T-decision through these three arguments.

During these meetings, leaders will try to boost the confidence of the party workers and explain them how the bifurcation will pave way for political empowerment of weaker sections in Seemandhra.

Leaders will also try to convince the party cadres that because of the sincere efforts of the Seemandhra Congress leaders, the Centre has announced a financial package and accorded special status to the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh.

According to Kanna Lakshminarayana, as part of party high command's 'grand strategy' to revive the party in Seemandhra, they would soon hold meetings with party workers in each district of Seemandhra so as to prepare them to refute the argument of opposition parties that Congress had done grave injustice to Seemandhra.

'How could other parties such as the TDP and the YSRC point an accusing finger at the Congress when the truth is that our party has bifurcated the state as per the demand of those parties?

During the election campaign, we will display the letters, written by the TDP and YSRC, to the Centre asking it to divide the state. We will expose the doublespeak of opposition parties on the issue of state bifurcation,' Lakshminarayana said.

According to him, apart from mentioning the sops, such as special status and financial package, given by the Centre to residuary AP, during their election campaign, the Seemandhra Congress leaders would try to win over the hearts of electors saying that all these sops will be implemented only in the event of Congress coming to power at the Centre.

As part of the party leadership's revival strategy in Seemandhra, AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi want to address public meetings in the region in March, he said.