Why Rahul Gandhi picked party hopper Anumula Revanth Reddy as Congress chief for Telangana?
Anumula Revanth Reddy, who assumed office as president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee on July 7, brings youthful aggression and combative enthusiasm to the party. Though the Congress is responsible for creating the youngest state by reorganising erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 2014, it is far from being in a position to come to power in Telangana. The party enjoys a vote share of 20-30 per cent in a majority of the 119 assembly constituencies, but lacks the cutting edge to win even half the seats. Assembly elections are due in Telangana only in December 2023, but Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has the penchant for calling early elections, like he did in 2018, in order to ensure victory in the face of a daunting challenge. For KCR, the next assembly poll will be the toughest in his political career, considering that the electorate has enabled a victory for his TRS twice in a row. Apart from the adverse impact of incumbency, the TRS will have to counter the stiff challenge posed by the Congress and the BJP. The first round of that challenge will be provided by these parties in the upcoming assembly bypoll for the Huzurabad seat in September-October. The incumbent, Eatala Rajender of the TRS, resigned after KCR sacked him from the state cabinet, and will contest on a BJP ticket in the bypoll. In preparing for the bypoll, state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar is setting out on a Bandi March from August 9 to October 2. It will be a 750 km, four-phase walkathon from Hyderabad to Huzurabad to expose the KCR family misrule. For an equally fierce Congress campaign against KCR and the TRS, Rahul Gandhi chose Revanth Reddy, 53, overlooking the claims of several senior rivals. Reddy has been a Congressman only for the past four years. His interest in politics began as a student activist. While he was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the 1980s, it is in the TRS that his career evolved in 2003. It was short one as he quit the party in 2005 when not allowed to contest an election. He then began to plough a lonely furrow to become a zilla parishad territorial committee member in 2006 and a member of the legislative council in 2008 by contesting as an Independent. Thereafter, Reddy joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and was elected twice as an MLA (2009 and 2014) from Kodangal constituency. When Andhra was reorganised in 2014, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu appointed Reddy as president of the party in Telangana. While Reddy was the TDP state chief, KCR, in 2015, had him arrested by the states AntiCorruption Bureau while allegedly trying to buy votes in the Telangana legislative council elections. Reddy switched to the Congress in 2017, where he has registered a remarkable rise. That he was among the three to be elected as a MP, from the Malkajgiri constituency, on a Congress ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll has contributed to his growing clout. He succeeds Capt Uttam Kumar Reddy, who has been the state party president for over six years since early 2015. Analysts say his combative approach on all issues, coupled with an aggressive style of airing them and presence on social media, contributes to the perception that the Congress is a vibrant opposition force in the state. An added advantage for the Congress is that Reddy is from the ruling dominant Reddy caste, says E. Venkatesu, professor of political science, University of Hyderabad. Further, he has always made sure he is visible as a strong opposition leader who could counter KCR and TRSs governance.    Reddy is also capable of rallying support from various sections of people, which the Congress needs badly. After 12 of its 19 MLAs who won the 2018 election defected to the TRS, the party has been in dire straits. Congress cadres are invigorated and energised with the appointment of a new leadership and are raring to put an end to KCRs misrule, says AICC spokesperson Sravan Kumar Dasoju. As a critic of KCR and the TRS, the new Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president is known for making sensational allegations against his opponents. Last year, he kicked up a storm by accusing TRS working president and KCRs son, K.T. Rama Rao (KTR), of building a farmhouse by violating government norms. He, along with his followers, even tried to barge into the farmhouse. The protesters were taken into preventive custody. The enterprising Reddy sourced some drone images of the property and approached the National Green Tribunal, following which a notice was slapped on KTR, who is also the state industries and municipal administration minister. Reddys arrival may also mean the exit of some Congress leaders, who are disapproving of this strategy as well as his political past. At the same time, many opposed to the TRS believe he is the partys need of the hour considering assembly polls are barely two years away and aggression is essential to outwit KCR. The Huzurabad bypoll will be Reddys first major test. Our fight against KCR will intensify. We will take up public issues of importance and will leave no stone unturned in showing how this government is against Dalits, minorities and tribals, says Reddy.