HYDERABAD: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Saturday appointed Anumula Revanth Reddy, a doughty opponent of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), replacing N. Uttam Kumar Reddy.
The appointment ends more than two years of suspense over the TPCC chief after Uttam Kumar Reddy offered to step down following the party’s debacle in the 2018 state elections.
Soon after his appointment, Revanth Reddy, the party’s Malkajgiri Lok Sabha member, thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. He also called on former CLP leader Kunduru Jana Reddy, senior leader Mohd Ali Shabbir and Vem Narender Reddy.
In other appointments, Sonia Gandhi retained former cricketer and former MP Mohd Azharuddin as working president. She also appointed former minister J. Geetha Reddy, former MP M. Anjan Kumar Yadav, Sangareddy MLA T. Jayaprakash ‘Jagga’ Reddy and B. Mahesh Kumar Goud as working presidents.
This apart, the TPCC got 10 vice-presidents: Chandrashekhar Sambhani, Damodhar Reddy, Ravi Mallu, Podem Veeraiah, Suresh Shetakar, Vem Narender Reddy, Ramesh Mudiraj, Gopishetty Niranjan, T. Kumar Rao and Javeed Ameer.
Former deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Rajanarasimha was named chairman of the election management committee. Former MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy was appointed chairman of the AICC programme implementation committee.
Senior leaders strongly opposed giving the post to Revanth Reddy, 51, who joined the Congress just before the 2018 polls from the Telugu Desam Party.
However, his image as a firebrand leader, his relentless campaign against the TRS government, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao are said to have worked in his favour.
