Hyderabad: Ahead of the counting of votes for the state Assembly polls, the Congress high command on Satur-day sequestered its candidates at a star hotel and deployed Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in Hyderabad to lead the camp and check poaching attempts by rival parties.
The AICC also appointed Shivakumar, former Union minister of state Deepa Das Munshi, former MP Ajoy Kumar, Kerala MP K. Muraleedharan and Karnataka minister K.J. George as observers to oversee government formation if the Congress gets a majority. They will seek the opinion of MLA-elects on the new CM and submit a report to the party’s high command to take the final call.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also spoke to TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy over the phone on Saturday to discuss the party's strategy after the declaration of results.
Addressing mediapersons in Bengaluru on Saturday, Shivakumar said, “I’m going there (Telangana) as part of my party work. The Telangana team was with us during the Karnataka elections. That’s why I’m also going. We’ll see what happens after the results. There is no problem, no threat to Congress. We have confidence. Our party will win comfortably.”
Sources said that in the event of a clear majority, the MLA-elects will stay in Hyderabad but, in the case of a hung Assembly, the party leadership is planning to shift them to Bengaluru.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also spoke to TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy over the phone on Saturday to discuss the party's strategy after the declaration of results.
During his phone conversation with the TPCC leaders, Rahul Gandhi reportedly asked them to ensure all candidates reached Hyderabad as soon as it became clear that they would win. The candidates were asked not to wait till they received election certificates from returning officers and authorise deputies to complete the formalities.
