Congress decides to cut to size leaders image

HYDERABAD: The Congress high command, henceforth, will not allow any of its leaders at the state-level to build their personal image at the cost of the party, as happened in the case of the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Having learnt lessons from the larger-than-the-party image of YSR, the Congress leadership is understood to have decided to keep tabs on regional leaders to check their growh in stature.

According to the sources in the PCC, the state Congress will not encourage anyone as the sole leader of the party in future. Nobody will even be projected as the chief ministerial candidate in 2014 polls, they said.

Indicating this change, PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana said, 'Nobody will be projected as the sole leader of the state Congress in future unless the situation so demands.

Hereafter, the party will move ahead under a collective leadership. Only Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are our leaders'.

According to party insiders, the just-concluded state extended executive of the party was held with this objective of not allowing any regional leader to eclipse the party's image.

Sources in the PCC divulged that Botcha Satyanarayana organised the state-level party convention on Sunday as a preparatory exercise for the AICC brainstorming session slated for January 18 to 20 in Jaipur, which is intended to declare Rahul Gandhi as the party's prime ministerial candidate in the next general polls.

According to a member of Congress state coordination panel, the high command issued directives to all the PCCs across the country to hold state-level sessions to prepare the party cadre for Rahul's leadership.

According to the leader, the agenda and the list of the speakers at Sunday's meeting here was finalised by none other than AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, to suit the goals of the high command.

As any discussion on Telangana will defeat the goal of promoting Rahul Gandhi, Azad is understood to have told Botcha not to allow any discussion on the issue.

The AICC point man also told the PCC chief to avoid slogans in praise of any individual leader, except Sonia and Rahul, which Botcha followed promptly.

During the coordination panel meeting, held on December 15, Azad formulated a strategy not to discuss Telangana issue and to ignore YS Rajasekhara Reddy at the convention.

As per the directive of Azad, the PCC leadership ensured that no portrait of YSR was kept at LB Stadium, the venue. Party workers had been instructed to raise slogans praising Sonia and Rahul.

Meanwhile, Botcha claimed that the party's state-level convention was a success and it had rejuvenated the party cadres to prepare for 2014 elections.

The PCC chief clarified he had neither insulted the martyrs of Telangana during the party convention nor had any intentions to do so.