DS - Congress's troubleshooter?
Hyderabad: Former PCC president D Srinivas' nomination to the MLC seat vacated by K Rosaiah after his appointment as Tamil Nadu governor is being seen as an attempt by the Congress high command to keep its Telangana flock together in the event of it deciding against bifurcation of the state.
Srinivas will be useful to the Congress high command to rein in Telangana leaders who have been causing discomfiture to the party on the Telangana issue with some of them even threatening to breakaway to form a separate forum to fight for the Telangana cause.
'More importantly, he is in the good books of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who is understood to have influenced the party's decision to nominate Srinivas to the MLC post,' a source in the Congress said. Srinivas is expected to be on call for Mukherjee to carry out his moves in Telangana.
Though Srinivas tends to maintain a stiff upper lip on the separate statehood issue, he is not subject to hostility in the region as several other Telangana leaders are.
Recently he also won some brownie points for himself by writing to AICC president Sonia Gandhi and asserting there was no way out for the party than to concede Telangana. In a lengthy letter, the former PCC chief stated it was either Telangana or curtains for the Congress.
The Congress also needs Srinivas to stand as a bulwark in case the party's bete noire YS Jagan Mohan Reddy uses Telangana Congress leaders to foment trouble to the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the guise of fighting for the Telangana cause.
Already, former minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy's fast in Nalgonda from November 1, is being seen as an attempt of Jagan to settle scores with the chief minister and the Congress.
For the TRS, Srinivas' return to legislative politics is some kind of an opportunity to it to further the Telangana movement. Till now, the TRS has no specific target in Telangana Congress to attack since both the chief minister and the PCC president are from Seemandhra.
Now, Srinivas will become a convenient target to attack as soon as he gets around to making his MLAs and MPs in the region remain loyal to the party, regardless of what decision the party high command takes on the T issue, a TRS leader said.
News Posted: 25 October, 2011
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