Amidst growing opposition among public Khammam Congress leaders rely on Praja Darbars

Congress leaders in Khammam district have started Praja Darbars to reconnect with the public amid growing dissatisfaction against the government. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and DCC president Nuthi Satyanarayana Goud are using the initiative to improve public outreach before future elections

Khammam: Amid growing opposition to the Congress government, party leaders in Khammam district are making efforts to reach out to the public with future elections in mind.

Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who represents the Palair Assembly constituency, has come up with the idea of holding ‘Praja Darbar’ to interact with the public and receive petitions from them personally.

He has been holding Praja Darbars at major gram panchayats and mandal headquarters for the past few days and ensuring his presence at such meetings conducted on the sidelines of the ongoing Praja Palana-Pragathi Pranalika programme.

According to party sources, Srinivas Reddy, who used to interact freely with people before the party came to power, distanced himself from the public after assuming office. This made the public in Palair develop resentment towards him.

The increasing gap between the Minister, party cadres, leaders and the public has prompted him to hold Praja Darbars to bridge the divide. Though it is not clear how far the Minister has been able to bridge the gap, the Praja Darbars are offering a chance for the public to bring their issues to his notice.

There have been rumours that Srinivas Reddy, in view of the growing dissatisfaction among voters in his constituency, shifted his focus to the Kothagudem Assembly constituency, possibly to contest from the seat in future elections.

He took the Kothagudem Municipal Corporation election as an opportunity and even called the election a referendum on him to prove that he enjoys the support of local voters, while setting aside the poll alliance the Congress had with the CPI in the previous Assembly elections.

However, the verdict was fractured, as the Congress and BRS won 22 divisions each out of the 60 divisions, failing to reach the magic figure of 31 needed to win the council. The result was seen as a setback for him. Hence, he decided to set things right in Palair and came up with the Praja Darbar idea, political critics suggested.

Taking a cue from Minister Srinivas Reddy, DCC president Nuthi Satyanarayana Goud, a follower of Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, also announced that he would hold a Praja Darbar at the party office every Thursday to reach out to the public.

However, the Praja Darbar held last Thursday failed to evoke much response from the public as well as party leaders. The party MLAs and district Ministers, who were supposed to attend the meeting, failed to turn up.