In a surprising development, the Congress high command on Saturday shifted Manikrao Thakre as the party in-charge of Telangana affairs, within three weeks of the party grabbing power in the state from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
All India Congress Committee general secretary K C Venugopal issued a statement, reshuffling the party in-charges across the country.
While shifting Thakre, the party high command appointed West Bengal MP Deepa Das Munshi as the new in-charge of Telangana, apart from Kerala and Lakshadweep.
Thakre, who played a key role in bringing the warring groups in the Telangana Congress together and strongly stood by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, has surprisingly been moved to Goa and union territory of Diu and Daman.
During the Telangana assembly elections, Deepa Das Munshi, who happens to be wife of senior Congress leader from West Bengal Priyaranjan Das Munshi, had worked as the party observer in Telangana. She maintained cordial relations with the local Congress leaders.
Apparently, Revanth Reddy will be retained as the president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee till the Lok Sabha elections. “There is likely to be further reshuffle after the Lok Sabha elections,” sources said.
According to a latest survey conducted by ABP-C Voter, the Congress has the chances of winning 9-11 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana out of the total number of 17 seats. The BRS, which had won nine Lok Sabha seats in 2019, may get only around 3-5 MP seats, it said.
The BJP, which is hoping to bounce back in the Lok Sabha elections taking advantage of the goodwill for Narendra Modi, may have to face disappointment, as it may not get more than 1-3 Lok Sabha seats, the survey said.
