With elections to the Andhra Pradesh state assembly just a few months away, the Congress party is desperate to prove its existence in the state, if not aspiring for power.
But what is lacking in the party is the presence of strong leaders who have state-wide recognition.
While majority of the big leaders have already left the Congress in search of greener pastures to join the Telugu Desam Party, the YSR Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, there are hardly any leaders worth mentioning in the party.
So, the AICC leaders is said to be trying to bring back some of the big names into the party so as to give it some credibility.
As part of that it is eyeing those who leaders who left the party not because of ideological differences, but in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. They did not join any other party but remained neutral.
Prominent among them are former chief minister Nallarai Kiran Kumar Reddy and former MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar.
The Congress leadership is now trying to contact them and gracefully invite them into the party. AICC in-charge of Andhra affairs Oomen Chandy reportedly requested former Union minister M M Pallam Raju to convince Kiran to come back into the Congress, since he has some credibility among the people.
Similarly, Vundavalli was also once a hard core Congress loyalist and if people like K V P Ramachandra Rao can convince him, he might consider returning to the party fold, the paryt leadership feels.
There a few other leaders in other parties who are not comfortable after leaving the Congress. Like for instance, former Union minister K Sai Pratap and for that matter Kavuri Sambasiva Rao. With a little more effort, they can be brought back into the Congress.
If they are able to make some strong effort, the party has the chances of bouncing back, if not now, but at least in the coming years, the AICC feels.
Let us see how these leaders will respond to the high command’s overtures.
