BC, Minority Leaders Upset Over STs Picked as DCC Chiefs

Adilabad: Congress leaders from the Backward Classes and minority communities are disappointed over the lack of representation for their groups in the newly appointed District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents, despite their significant population in the erstwhile Adilabad district. The appointment of three DCC presidents from the Scheduled Tribe community out of the four positions has not gone down well with many within the party.

The AICC named Dr Naresh Jadhav, Atram Suguna and MLA Vedma Bojju as DCC presidents for Adilabad, Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Nirmal districts, respectively, all belonging to the ST community. Pinninti Raghunath Reddy was appointed DCC president for Mancherial.

Nirmal district has the highest BC population, while Adilabad has a considerable minority population, yet no leader from either community was selected for any of the four DCC posts. Several Congress leaders expressed shock at the selections and questioned why no BC leader was accommodated.

Political analysts point out that the high command appears to have allocated three posts to ST leaders as part of a balancing act between Adivasis and Lambadas and between senior and junior leaders within the party.

A senior Congress leader who aspired for the Adilabad DCC post said he never expected three positions to be given to ST leaders and questioned the logic and “social engineering” behind the decision. He noted that all three selected ST leaders already hold state-level posts in the TPCC. He expressed surprise that his name was omitted despite a majority of cadre and leaders proposing him during the feedback exercise conducted by AICC observers.

He said the selections appeared to reflect the high command’s preferences rather than the opinions gathered from local cadre.

The appointment of sitting MLA Vedma Bojju as DCC president for Nirmal, a plain area district, also raised eyebrows, as many senior leaders had aspired for the position.

Observers have also noted that the party did not apply the five-year seniority rule while finalising candidates and considered at least one candidature even without a formal application.

The appointment of Raghunath Reddy for the Mancherial DCC post was reportedly influenced by state-level political equations and the intervention of top leadership.