Amid a full blown tussle in Telangana Congress with a section of top leaders raising a banner of revolt against state party chief and Lok Sabha MP A Revanth Reddy, the Congress high command on Wednesday replaced AICC in-charge in the state Manickam Tagore, considered close to Rahul Gandhi. It replaced Tagore with veteran Maharashtra Congress leader Manikrao Thakre. The minor reshuffle of AICC office-bearers carried out by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge saw Tagore being shifted to Goa as the AICC in-charge in place of Dinesh Gundu Rao. Rao was the AICC in-charge of Goa, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. He will continue to be the in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Thakre, a former president of the Maharashtra Congress, is a four-time MLA and two-time MLC. He had served as a minister in-charge of key portfolios like Home, Energy and Agriculture. The replacement of Tagore was on the cards as several Telangana Congress leaders, who were seeking the removal of Reddy, had been arguing that Tagore was backing Reddy’s unilateral ways and not paying heed to their grievances. Sensing that the revolt could go out of hands, the AICC had rushed senior leader Digvijaya Singh to Hyderabad to resolve the crisis. Singh, however, could not resolve the crisis. The latest flashpoint is over appointments of PCC office-bearers. Senior leaders like former TPCC chief and Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy, working president K Jagga Reddy, V Hanumanth Rao, and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka have accused Revanth Reddy of allocating the posts to his loyalists who joined the Congress from other political parties and ignoring loyal Congressmen. Tagore’s removal came after Singh submitted a report to the Congress leadership. The Telangana Congress is also divided on the question of having an alliance with the ruling BRS. The high command and Rahul, at the instance of Revanth Reddy and Tagore, had taken a clear view that the party would not have any truck with the BRS. Sources close to Tagore said he had last month urged the high command to relieve him of the responsibility of Telangana in view of the repeated charge that he was backing Revanth Reddy to the hilt. Reddy, who had quit the TDP and joined the Congress in 2017, was appointed state Congress president in June 2021.
