Congress OBC wing meet high command in New Delhi

At the meeting with AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, the OBC leaders led by former MPs Madhu Yaskhi Goud, Ponnam Prabhakar and others, reminded that the party high command had instructed the State leadership to allot at least 40 tickets to BC leaders but the local leaders here were not willing to allot at least 30 tickets.

Hyderabad: A 40-member OBC leaders’ team from the State Congress met party high command in New Delhi on Friday demanding allocation of a minimum 34 tickets to leaders from the community to contest the ensuing elections.

Since last few days, there is a growing rift between the OBC wing of the State Congress and upper caste leaders in the party over allocation of tickets. This is after 83 BC leaders had applied for tickets, paying Rs.50, 000 for each application.

At the meeting with AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, the OBC leaders led by former MPs Madhu Yaskhi Goud, Ponnam Prabhakar and others, reminded that the party high command had instructed the State leadership to allot at least 40 tickets to BC leaders but the local leaders here were not willing to allot at least 30 tickets.

This is even after the party high command was convinced by the OBC unit’s appeal to allot two Assembly tickets from each Parliamentary constituency to leaders from the community.

A few BC leaders complained that the Telangana Congress was being led by leaders hailing from upper castes and preference was being given to leaders from such communities, citing surveys, economic background and other reasons.

However, KC Venugopal said that the application scrutiny was under progress and all efforts were being made to allot maximum tickets to BC leaders.