Internal Tussle Erupts in Congress over B-Forms in Adilabad

 Adilabad: Factional rivalry has surfaced within the Congress in Adilabad district ahead of the municipal elections, with senior leaders locked in a tussle with recent entrants from the BRS and BJP over the allotment of party B-Forms.

The infighting centres on the selection of candidates for ward councillor posts in the Adilabad municipality, where Congress leaders who have served the party for decades allege they are being sidelined in favour of leaders who joined the party recently from rival outfits.

P. Sudarshan Reddy, Congress in-charge for the Adilabad parliamentary and municipal elections and adviser to the state government, is playing a key role in finalising candidates and issuing B-Forms. Differences came to the fore after the names of several senior Congress leaders were reportedly missing from the candidate lists submitted to him, even as some names were allegedly leaked.

Congress leaders said meetings were held twice with leaders of the parliamentary constituency to finalise candidates. However, the party has maintained secrecy over its choice for the chairman’s post till the last moment.

Senior Congress leaders who have filed nominations are demanding that the party leadership do justice to those who stood by the party during difficult times and faced political opposition. They alleged that attempts were being made to allot B-Forms to former BRS leaders who joined the Congress after the MP elections and after the party assumed power in the state.

It has become increasingly difficult for the party to arrive at a consensus, with leaders such as Adilabad Assembly in-charge Kandi Srinivas Reddy, district Congress committee president Naresh Jadhav, TPCC former general secretary Gandrath Sujatha, former market committee chairman Sanjeev Reddy and former DCC president Sajid Khan failing to agree on candidates for the 49 wards in the municipality.

A senior Congress leader aspiring for a B-Form alleged that Kandi Srinivas Reddy was pushing a panel dominated by leaders who had defected from the BRS, ignoring long-serving Congress workers.

The task of finalising candidates has become more challenging for the Congress in Adilabad municipality, where the BJP remains strong and sitting MLAs in Adilabad, Nirmal, Mudhole and Sirpur (T) constituencies belong to the BJP. A large number of candidates have filed nominations from the BJP in these areas.

Meanwhile, the BRS is also gearing up to give a tough fight by fielding candidates in all wards of the Adilabad municipality.