Newly appointed Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Revanth Reddy took charge on July 7, and urged party workers to work tirelessly over the next two years to defeat the ruling TRS and bring the Congress to power. In a fiery speech, Revanth Reddy compared Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to Ravana from Ramayana. “KCR is like Ravana, who has kept Telangana, who is like Sita, trapped in his farmhouse,” he said, calling for Congress party workers to work like the Vanara sena (army of monkeys) to help “free the state from KCR’s clutches.” Revanth Reddy, Lok Sabha member from Malkajgiri, took charge from outgoing president N Uttam Kumar Reddy at Gandhi Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters, in the presence of AICC incharge of Congress affairs in Telangana, Manickam Tagore and a number of other senior leaders.
Lashing out strongly at both KCR and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Revanth Reddy said, “It is because of Modi and KCR that within Telangana and across India, living conditions are terrible for poor people, whether it is rising fuel prices, COVID-19 related problems. KCR and Modi are more harmful than coronavirus,” he said. He went on to say that KCR and Modi must be buried 100 metres deep, and called for all party workers to relentlessly strive for two years for Congress to return to power in Telangana. He called KCR and his family a “menace to Telangana”, and said they must be driven out of the state’s borders.
Hundreds of party workers thronged the venue on the occasion and later participated in a rally led by Revanth Reddy from the famous Peddamma temple in Hyderabad, where he offered worship in the morning. He also offered prayers at a dargah at Nampally in the city before reaching Gandhi Bhavan. Addressing the gathering, Revanth Reddy hit out at KCR for 'letting down' unemployed youth, farmers and also those who sacrificed their lives for the formation of Telangana. He urged party workers to work tirelessly for the next two years to defeat the TRS and bring the Congress to power. Assembly elections are due in Telangana in 2023.
Seeking to strike an emotional chord, he said it is the culture of Telangana people to remember somebody forever for providing just a glass of water to drink. He then went on to ask if it is not the responsibility of the people of Telangana to express their gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for realizing the decades-old dream of a separate state. Revanth Reddy is known for his strong opposition to the ruling TRS and an aggressive style of functioning. With his appointment as the PCC leader in Telangana, he now faces the uphill task of rejuvenating the party in the state by taking on the ruling TRS, led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, and an ambitious BJP.
Congress suffered successive electoral defeats in Telangana even though the UPA government played a key role in granting statehood to the region in 2014. Revanth Reddy, a popular leader in TDP before joining the Congress, rose through the ranks ever since he was elected as a Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member in 2006, followed by his election to Legislative Council in 2007 and Legislative Assembly in 2009, 2014 and Lok Sabha in 2019.