Stocks on sale, Congress heads hit the stands

- D. Vishnumohan Rao

Experts in backstabbing, floor crossing, wall jumping…. In a single word substitute Congress heads, are among the fresh stocks that arrived into the market and hit the stands. They are ready for an open sale. The price tag on these heads would be visible to only those who wish to do horse trading for grabbing power, be it at the rock bottom village level or at the apex Parliament standard.

It is not a new word for the Congress heads being sold. Believe this it has taken the modern trend rather improvised. Earlier, the Modus Operandi was to jump the camps that too with in the party limits. And, the word Coterie is as old as the word Congress in India and of course, it is the ‘style’ Congressmen are crazy about and fashioned for to maintain.

Now the improvisation in Congress is, they are available for sale, in Open. Had this been an anti-Congress statement, it would have, if the release were from a person aloof of Congress. How should one grade it, a pro-Congress or an anti-Congress, when the statement was from a person who is at the helm of affairs of a stat e unit of the Congress? The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President Mr M Satyanarayana Rao (MSR) ‘humbly and royally’ admitted the chaotic situation in front of the media. Rao groaned and cried to the top of his pitch against it.

The Congress heads were very much instrumental in losing the Warangal, Ranga Reddy and Karimnagar Zilla Parishads. It was the situation when the saying came true, ‘A slip between the cup and the lip’. The Congress ZPTCs showing an empty ‘Hand’ to their own party, supported Arc rival Telugu Desam Party (TDP) at Warangal and Ranga Reddy. In a strategic sequence, another rival Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) hooked away Karimnagar Zilla Parishad, not to mention specially it was the Congress support here too. This slip cup before it reached the lip left MSR boiling and steaming. The issue came to lime light when he admitted at a press conference, “It is true! Out ZPTC sold themselves to other parties. Involvement of senior and prominent leaders of our party in the episodes is also very much true” When questioned about initiating disciplinary action the anti-party functioning MSR fizzled out stating that it is left to the party’s “High Command”.

MSR details High Command about the ‘deals’

MSR flew to New Delhi and met the ‘single hand’ High Command and President of the All India Congress Committee Ms Sonia Gandhi. In front of her, he exhibited all his heartburn on the issue. He screeched that though majority of voters in the state were supporting Congress, the reputed and so called senior leaders were backstabbing the party for some or other ‘reason’. The persons behind the screen were put in front of Sonia, responsible for losing the ZPs even after bagging the majority of ZPTCs.

MSR kneeled before Sonia, with folded hands and pleaded her to initiate action against the erring senior leaders. The authority for disciplinary action vests only in the hands of Central Committee, he recalled. Sonia made MSR fly back to Hyderabad showing him a ‘Hand’ of assurance to send observers.

Dhawan drops in and out of Hyderabad

Shortly after MSR returned after successfully breaking the news of ‘deals’ with High Command, RK Dhawan was driven by Sonia to look into the matter. On his arrival, Gandhi Bhavan showed off a festive look for a couple of days. APCC members, CLP leader Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and other ‘important’ personalities explained various facts to Dhawan. Many of the leaders regretted in front of the observer, that at the juncture where people were to be educated about the negative policies of state and Central government and attract them towards the party, unfortunately the senior leaders were dismantling the Congress reputation. A common point among all the fact explanations was to initiate stern action against the leaders who were functioning against the party’s interests.

The Observer very coolly ‘observed’ all the leaders who presented themselves in front of him dropped out of Hyderabad mess, with a single statement, “appropriate report would he handed over to the High Command”.

Gandhi Bhavan echoes slogans against Kotla

While Dhawan was hearing to the leaders in the Gandhi Bhavan, the state head quarters of Congress, hundreds of workers arrived raising slogans against Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and his son Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy. The demonstrators demanded rustication of both father and son levelling charges and holding them responsible for losing majority TCs in Kurnool district. The Gandhi Bhavan echoed the slogans against Kotla duo. The piles of memoranda submitted to Dhawan said that earlier and Coterie problem did not surface during the election, but in the local body elections groupism took the leading seat than the party’s interests.

Warangal and Ranga Reddy Zilla Parishads were conceded to ruling Telugu Desam Party. The ‘hands’ behind and before the curtain were the leaders who bear the Kotla Coterie stamp on their backs. Of course, several leaders condemned this. At Karimnagar the ‘influence’ of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) over shadowed the Congress ZPTCs in the district. The TRS cast its spell so deep that APCC orders were put to dust bin. The district Congress Whip and followers openly supported the TRS candidature for the ZP position. The fuel added to the heartburn of APCC President MSR is that Karimnagar is his home district.

Suspensions, expulsions from the party?!!….. In Congress! Hah Hah Hah

A big Mr Laughter poses ad a much more bigly laugh. This was the response when a senior Congress leader was asked about the ‘disciplinary action’ based o Dhawan’s report. ‘Suspensions and expulsions from the party?… that too in Congress! HA HA HA. Congress is like an ocean. Ripples come on and off in this ocean. No one can send some one out of party. OK! Let us take a situation where in some one was expelled from Congress. The next election would witness the same expelled person contesting on Congress’ ticket. History by itself might not be able to recollect about the entry, exit and re-entry of persons in Congress’.

The discipline, decency and decorum of Congress party in the country are not beyond any one’s expectations. The key problem with the present Congress heads is that they do not have any work as the people kicked them out of power. The only work they can do is the ‘style’ of functioning they adopted immediately after joining Congress. That is, creating nuisance, backstabbing their own party, releasing press statements, building coteries or pulling down some one or the other’s legs and reputations. Oh! Yes! They do one more important job. Convening press conferences to sling mud on other parties. Do not mind them seriously… poor guys… they do all this for ‘time pass’.

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