Cong. bigwigs eyeing CWC posts

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 1. With the completion of organisational elections at the State-level, the Congress(I) bigwigs in Andhra Pradesh have set their sight on membership of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest policy-making body of the party.

The party high command has hinted that the election for the 12 slots in the CWC could be held some time in the last week of December or the first week of January. The CWC is made up of 12 elected and an equal number of nominated members.

According to party sources here, at least half a dozen party seniors are in the run for the CWC membership though traditionally not more than one member is chosen from each State.

The former Chief Minister, Mr. Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy, is one of the present CWC members and sources close to him say he is very much in the race again. Other seniors figuring prominently in the party circles as contenders for the CWC are Mr. N. Janardhan Reddy, Mr. P. Shiv Shankar, Mr. G. Venkataswamy, Mr. T. Subbirami Reddy besides Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

A prerequisite for the CWC elections is the election of the AICC members who constitute the electoral college. It has been the practice to elect AICC delegates from each State, whose strength is roughly 1/8th of the PCC members, by consensus.

Mr. Motilal Vora, the AICC general secretary in-charge of AP, has begun the exercise of consulting party leaders on choosing AICC delegates from the State. As part of this, the APCC(I) president, Mr. M. Satyanarayana Rao, on being asked by Mr. Vora, submitted a list of 81 members.

``I have incorporated all the names submitted by the Mahila Congress president, G. Aruna Kumari and women are going to get one-third representation in the AICC team from the State,'' Mr. Rao told presspersons on Friday.

Similar lists are being submitted by Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy, the CLP leader, and other seniors. A common list would be prepared from among the candidates propped by these leaders and the exercise is expected to be completed within a week.

The election of Mr. Rao as the PCC president was hassle-free as he was backed up by all the senior party leaders who have their own groups in the party. It remains to be seen whether a similar consensus approach would be displayed in respect of the prestigious CWC election. Mr. Vijayabhaskara Reddy was elected CWC member at the Calcutta session of AICC two years ago.

The APCC(I) president said the Congress and the left parties would fight the coming Panchayat Raj elections jointly on the plank of hiked power tariffs. He welcomed the indication from the Government that the PR elections were possible in January.

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