Jagtial Congress caught in ticket war

Infighting within the Congress in Telangana's Jagtial district over allotment of party tickets for municipal elections intensified with senior leader T. Jeevan Reddy openly expressing his anger over the party giving more tickets to the group of his rival M. Sanjay Kumar in Jagtial.

The former minister is angry as his group has been given 20 tickets while Sanjay Kumar's followers managed to secure 30 tickets for the February 11 municipal elections.

A large number of Congress cadres gathered at Jeevan Reddy's residence on Tuesday. He is holding a meeting with his supporters to decide the future course of action.

Jeevan Reddy is locked in a bitter fight with Sanjay Kumar, who is one of the 10 MLAs of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) who switched loyalties to the Congress party in 2024.

Jeevan Reddy, who was defeated by Sanjay Kumar in the Jagtial constituency in the 2023 elections, has openly defied the party leadership for inducting him into the party.

On January 21, Jeevan Reddy walked out of a meeting at the party's state headquarters, Gandhi Bhavan, objecting to Sanjay Kumar's presence.

Reddy asked how the party allowed an outsider to join an internal meeting. "Why is a member of an Opposition party attending this meeting?" he asked.

Both groups have been at loggerheads over one-upmanship in the district. The efforts of the leadership to pacify Reddy have not yielded results, as he is worried over the MLA's growing clout in the district.

The infighting also marred the allotment of party tickets for municipal elections in the district. Jeevan Reddy's group is unhappy over the party giving more tickets to the rival group for elections to Jagtial and Raikal municipalities.

Several aspirants from both groups filed nominations. However, the party has issued B-forms to the majority of the aspirants from Sanjay Kumar's group, deepening the rift.