It appears that the Congress high command is not at all interested in allowing the smoothly running government in Telangana to move forward. Even party leaders are shocked to see the way the Congress high command is introducing a new culture in the state, something never seen before. Some leaders are also expressing doubts that all this is being done due to dissatisfaction with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. There have been widespread reports in political circles recently that a major gap has developed between Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi—so much so that Rahul has not even been granting appointments to Revanth Reddy. Opposition leaders too have made several statements on this matter. Recently, at a meeting held in Delhi regarding the successful implementation of caste enumeration and BC reservations in Telangana, Rahul Gandhi personally praised Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and his team, saying they had done a good job. As a result, the Revanth Reddy group began to promote the narrative that the rift between Revanth and Rahul is baseless.
Just when everything seemed to have settled, many were shocked by an announcement that came from Gandhi Bhavan on Monday evening. The announcement stated that Telangana Congress in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan would undertake a padayatra (foot march) in several districts of the state starting July 31 and would also participate in voluntary labor (shramdaan). It was officially announced that, along with the Congress in-charge, PCC President Mahesh Kumar Goud and district leaders would participate. Even during the united Andhra Pradesh days, key Congress in-charges like Digvijaya Singh and Ghulam Nabi Azad never undertook such padayatras. The decision to allow Meenakshi Natarajan—someone who does not know the Telugu language and has no real connection to the state—to conduct a padayatra has left ministers confused about what kind of message the high command wants to send to the people and party units in the state.
Will this padayatra generate any positive atmosphere for the Congress party among Telangana people? Most people in Telangana do not even know who Meenakshi Natarajan is. Now there’s a discussion within Congress circles that the padayatra may serve no purpose except handing over a weapon to political opponents. In short, some Congress leaders believe this move is intended to put a check on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. Revanth Reddy and PCC President Mahesh Kumar Goud share a good relationship. With Meenakshi Natarajan now directly undertaking a padayatra while seemingly sidelining the PCC President, discussions are emerging that she is trying to send a message that she has taken control of the party. However, since all of this appears to be taking place with the backing of the high command seniors, many Congress leaders feel that something somewhere is going off track.