With all hectic activity over the Presidential election coming to an end on Thursday, the Congress leadership in the state is looking to its high command for changes in the government and state unit. They are also awaiting an announcement on the Telangana statehood issue. However, so far there has been no official statement from any leader from the AICC indicating the ‘so called’ changes that the state Congress leaders were talking about. In fact, nobody even knows what sort of changes to expect from the high command. Right from the Chief Minister and PCC president, to MLAs, everybody has made statements pointing to “changes” after the Presidential polls. Apart from Congress leaders, almost all political party leaders in the state have been demanding that the Congress high command put an end to the “confusion” prevailing in the state on account of Telangana, which has been hanging in the balance for the last three years.
Now that the Presidential polls are over, leaders are saying that the much hyped “changes” will take place after the Vice- Presidential election on August 7. Similarly, it is also being linked to the ensuing Parliament session starting from August 8 for six weeks, followed by the holding of a statutory Assembly Session before the September 30 deadline. The Chief Minister and PCC chief have already planned their visit to Delhi next week to congratulate the new President. Besides, other Congress leaders are finalising their ‘Chalo Delhi’ programme to renew their demands.
The Chief Minister is confident that there is no threat to his leadership in the state, and that he will be permitted to reshuffle his entire Cabinet to bring in some new faces while discarding the difficult ones. The Chief Minister reiterates the need to have a strong Cabinet in order to face the local body polls, as also the elections in 2014, with only a year-and-a-half to change the party’s image before the general elections. Similarly, he also wants to get the nod from the high command for the appointment of a few Congressmen for the nominated posts.
While PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana wants to continue holding the dual posts he also wants his team constituted in the DCC and PCC posts, which are either defunct or lying vacant. Meanwhile, other Congress leaders expect many changes including a change of guard in the state, a conclusion they have come to after talking to some highly placed leaders over the past few weeks. However, they expect that the change of guard will be effected simultaneously along with the decision on Telangana. On the issue of bifurcation, Congressmen are divided on regional lines, with Seemandhra leaders confident of a united state and Telangana leaders hopeful of bifurcation.