The much-awaited meeting of the Telangana Congress BC leaders with the AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal in New Delhi gave them hope that their issues would be taken seriously, but at the same time, they also got an ‘advice’ not to go to the media with their demands but raise them internally.
Sources said that Mr. Venugopal was a bit annoyed with the way the BC leaders went to the press at a time when the party was seeing an upswing, and such developments could harm the party interests. He told them that Congress was a democratic party and anyone could reach out to the party leadership about their concerns.
Also Read | BRS gave tickets to 22 BC candidates and Congress should give more, say BC leaders of party
Mr. Venugopal assured them that Congress would give more seats to Backward Classes than the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS). He also ruled out the apprehensions that the final decision would depend only on the survey results.
“If you feel the survey reports are against you and the result is manufactured, don’t hesitate to approach me directly,” he told the BC leaders.
Sources also said that Mr. Venugopal stressed on how the Congress had to win the elections and some leaders from other parties had to be accommodated. There should be some concessions and sacrifices.
Also Read | ‘Congress will give more seats to Backward Classes than the BRS’
The BC leaders including Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Ponnam Prabhakar, V. Hanmanth Rao, Shabbir Ali, Mahesh Kumar Goud among others explained how the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) had decided long back that 34 seats would be given to BC leaders with two seats each in every Parliamentary constituency.
The senior leaders said when BCs are looking at the Congress, the party should also respond positively accommodating maximum number of candidates.
