Nine months on, what’s driving Telangana Congress pushback against high command appointee Meenakshi Natarajan
As District Congress Committee (DCC) appointments lead to the resignations of some leaders, leading to disquiet in party ranks, many in the party question her moves. But the AICC state in-charge continues to enjoy the backing of the party high command and state Congress chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud.
The dissatisfaction with Natarajan in the party comes amid a churn in the ranks about District Congress Committee (DCC) appointments made under her supervision. (Source: Instagram/Meenakshi Natarajan) 
In February, All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan travelled by train from Delhi to Hyderabad. An ordinary bag slung over her shoulder, Natarajan was greeted by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president B Mahesh Kumar Goud and several party workers.
“She is an honest person, a Gandhian. She cannot be corrupted and she will not sell out,” said a party leader who knows Natarajan well. However, in the nine months since her appointment, the former NSUI president and ex-MP, who is known to be close to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, has made more enemies than friends in Telangana Congress.
“She is not a political person,” said a senior Congress leader who is one of her many detractors. “Several people who have left the Congress have accused Rahul Gandhi of being surrounded by ‘NGO type people’. She is one of them.”
The dissatisfaction with Natarajan in the party comes amid a churn in the ranks about District Congress Committee (DCC) appointments made under her supervision. For instance, D Y Giri who was a party spokesperson and the Dornakal constituency in-charge resigned because he was not considered for DCC posts. While Giri spoke out against the “injustice” he faced, G Mohan Reddy, a Congress leader from Nalgonda, too, resigned from the party over “unfair” DCC appointments.
“Several people who were active on the ground were ignored and those who were loyal to her were rewarded. This has created trouble at the DCC and even the booth level. People have quit the party and issued statements against the AICC,” said a Congress source.
Natarajan’s supporters, however, say she was only following the lead of AICC observers. “Those selected by AICC observers were rewarded with the DCC president position. Meenakshi Natarajan never intervened in these appointments,” said a leader close to her.
The former MP from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh continues to have the backing of the Congress high command as well as TPCC president Goud. “There is no resentment against Meenakshi ji. She is an honest, highly commendable politician. Every decision taken at the state level (including DCC appointments) was based on inputs from the ground,” Goud told The Indian Express.
‘Preconditioned notions about politics’
Natarajan rubbed many people in the party the wrong way when, in March-April, the Revanth Reddy government was facing a backlash over a proposal to clear 400 acres of land that it had allotted to the University of Hyderabad. The campaign led by students, teachers, and civil society foregrounded the university’s biodiversity and said the state should not auction the land. Natarajan sided with this campaign and against the Chief Minister, Congress insiders said.
“This was the government’s land, which was worth at least Rs 10,000 crore. She should have stood by the state government in its fight for legal rights over this land even during tough times,” said a leader. Another party functionary said, “Meenakshi basically said the land should be handed over to the university. No one in the state government was in favour of this decision.”
A Congress leader said Natarajan comes with “preconditioned notions on what politics should be” without “facing the ground realities, especially in a state like Telangana where money rules the roost”.
Another of her critics also questioned the way the party contested the high-profile Jubilee Hills bypoll, which the party managed to win, wresting the seat from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi. “Everyone is an industrialist or the other in the state and the AICC in-charge thinks elections should be a low-key affair. She was not in favour of putting up a tough, high-decibel and high-profile fight in the bypoll. She thought that there should be an ideological battle in Telangana, whereas the ground reality suggested that it was a battle of power, wit and money,” said a Congress leader.
Another point of contention in the party is a “five-year rule” that Natarajan and those in her camp are pushing for. “She has been consistently favouring those who can claim they have spent several years with the Congress. She is creating an insider-outsider situation in the party,” alleged a Congress leader, but those close to the AICC leader deny it.
A Congress leader said the party had been left “bare and barren” during the 10 years of Bharata Rashtra Samithi rule and had to be built from the ground up again. “When such is the reality, you cannot have an AICC in-charge who insists that she will support only those who have been with the Congress for at least five years.” Even Revanth Reddy joined the Congress from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2017 and this “five-year rule” has not gone down well with his supporters.
However, Natarajan’s supporters point out the effort she has been making to revive and strengthen the organisation at the grassroots. In late July and early August, she started on a padayatra across the state on the lines of Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. However, the jury is out on the political gains it yielded.
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