Ponnala Lakshmaiah, one of the key leaders of Telangana Congress suffered humiliation when his name did not feature in any of the two contestants lists, announced by Congress TPCC earlier. Ponnala was also the former TPCC Chief during the 2014 elections. He stepped down from the post after failing to win in his own assembly constituency, in the previous general election.
However, Ponnala Lakshmaiah was not the only notable Congress leader who lost in the 2014 general election. He was one of the strong Congress leaders at that time and hailed from the Warangal district. Until 2014, he even controlled the district politics with other constituency leaders under the Warangal district. But, things started to change after his defeat in 2014.
With Ponnala being the 2014 election in-charge, the party defeat should be attributed on him to a greater extent. This lead to his downfall. Sources said that the current TPCC Chief Uttam Kumar Reddy was not in favour of offering him a seat, as part of the Mahakootami. This is the reason why the former PCC Chief’s name did not feature in the first two lists.
Finally, Ponnala Lakshmaiah got his name featured in the third list released by the Telangana Congress with 12 contestants. This was not easy for him either. The Jangaon leader met the Delhi High command several times and even visited Kodandaram’s office to make sure that his assembly seat will not be compromised as part of Mahakootami adjustments.
Ponnala is slated to contest from his hometown Jangaon. But, can the tides work in favour of him after a long gap from active politics? For now he won over TPCC president Uttam Kumar…