With the Telangana movement gathering momentum in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress is seeking to build a case for itself by appointing a number of leaders from the region in the AICC.But ironically, it is the leader from Rayalseema, Congress Legislative Party leader in Andhra Pradesh Y. Rajshekar Reddy, who is making waves in the state with his padayatra, which has been on for the past 26 days covering more than 600 km, and is presently touring Telangana. The region has always played a decisive role in the politics of the state and set the trend for the winning party in the elections.Telangana has 107 Assembly constituencies and 14 Lok Sabha constituencies. However, the only other important region of the state is the coastal Andhra Pradesh which has 134 Assembly constituencies and 16 Lok Sabha constituencies, most of which are Telugu Desam citadels.The recent Congress reshuffle has seen six leaders hailing from Telangana on AICC official posts. They include senior leader Sarojini Pulla Reddy as member of the Congress Working Committee; Jaipal Reddy as the chief spokesperson and member of Political Affairs Committee, former Member of Parliament P. Shiv Shankar as chairman of the OBC committee; senior leader G. Venkataswamy as chairman of the SC committee; and Hanumantha Rao who has been retained as the AICC secretary.Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Satyanarayana Rao is also from Telangana. Two leaders who are not from Telangana are senior leader Chinta Mohan from Tirupati, as a member of the Congress Working Committee and T. Subbirami Reddy from Vishakapatnam, both considered coastal Andhra.Says one of the leaders from Telangana: ‘‘The movement is catching up fast in the state. But the Congress has minimal presence in the state, which will be detrimental to the party’s prospects both in the general elections and in the assembly elections next year.’’ The leaders from the coastal region insist that the party must consider dividing the Kapu community to which CM Chandrababu Naidu belongs. Says a state leader: ‘‘The Congress must consider the incumbency factor both in the coastal Andhra and in the Naidu community.’’
