Revanth to adopt YSR’s grassroots engagement model to plug gap between Telangana Govt, people and party

Reminding the governance of late Congress Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in the early 2000s, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and all his Cabinet colleagues will spend a day for the party work now onwards, keeping aside the government engagements, as a part of the revival of structured interactions between the leadership and grassroots cadre.

Congress workers now believe the party should adopt a model similar to that of former Chief Minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh and Congress stalwart Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), who was known for dedicating a fixed portion of his day to meeting party workers and members of the public.

Senior party leaders recalled that Rajasekhara Reddy would regularly set aside time in the morning to hear representations from party workers, elected representatives, journalists and citizens. The practice enabled grassroots issues from villages, mandals, and constituencies to reach the highest levels of government and party leadership.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, AICC in-charge for Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan, TPCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud and others at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad

It was a common sight at the YSR’s camp office: Ministers, MLAs, and local leaders using those interaction sessions to bring delegations of party workers from their constituencies, helping resolve issues and strengthen organisational bonds.

“There was time for everyone, and the CM’s camp office used to be bustling with activity from early morning. Meeting the CM was half problem solved,” recalls a Minister, who was just a normal party worker at that time.

Revanth Reddy is expected to take the same route once the proposed CM’s camp office is ready. The Chief Minister’s residence, at present, is inadequate if party workers turn in large numbers.

For the time being, the Chief Minister wants to take a different approach, making himself and the Cabinet colleagues available in the constituencies along with local MLAs. He indicated this at the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting at Gandhi Bhavan.

“The party’s instructions are paramount. We must all adhere to the directions of the PCC president Mahesh Goud,” the Chief Minister said, requesting the PCC chief to assign one Assembly constituency every week to him and also the ministerial colleagues.

The PAC meeting attended by AICC incharge Meenakshi Natarajan, Ministers, and invitees saw the urgent need to plug the gap between the government and the party as the government is crosses the half-way mark in its term.

The PAC decided that ministers, MPs, MLCs, government advisers, corporation chairpersons, and senior party leaders would be assigned constituencies and required to visit them regularly to engage with grassroots workers and strengthen the party network.

As per the decision, TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud will begin the exercise of assigning constituencies to ministers, MPs, MLCs, and advisers from today itself.

The TPCC president had earlier introduced a programme under which ministers regularly visited Gandhi Bhavan to interact directly with party workers and receive representations from the public. Under the programme, party workers from across the State visited Gandhi Bhavan to raise constituency-level issues and seek intervention in matters relating to welfare schemes, local development works, and administrative grievances. However, the initiative was discontinued due to various administrative and logistical reasons.