The PJ Kurien Committee, which came to the State to assess the ‘poor’ performance of the Congress in the recent LS elections, said that there were diverse opinions such as an ‘undeclared’ alliance with AIMIM hurting the Congress, delayed announcement of candidates and non-cooperation of party leaders in some constituencies.
However, the overwhelming opinion was that BRS supported BJP in fielding weak candidates for political bargaining and also to contain the Congress.
Feroz Khan, known for his anti-MIM views, attributed BJP’s gain to people’s belief that “Congress and MIM were working together”. He is said to have told the committee that Hindus favoured BJP, as it saw the MIM tilting towards Congress. He also argued that MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi feared the BJP’s campaign and ensured the Congress fielded a weak candidate.
The Mynampally family, former MLA Mynampally Hanumanth Rao and his son, Medak MLA Mynampally Rohit, were also at the receiving end as some leaders said they did not cooperate with the party candidates.
Medak Congress candidate for LS Neelam Madhu is said to have told the committee that he did not get the ‘expected’ cooperation from Medak MLA.
Malkajgiri LS candidate Sunita Mahender Reddy made similar remarks, saying that Mr. Hanumanth Rao was not active in the campaign for Congress. Congress losing massive votes in these constituencies compared to Assembly elections was an indication of that.
Karimnagar Congress leaders said that they would have won the seat if the candidate was announced earlier. They just had 16 days to compete with BJP and BRS candidates, who were campaigning for three months.
The Kurien committee will present its report to the AICC on July 21. It will be unable to pinpoint blame on any leader than the circumstances and BJP-BRS alliance, according to a senior leader.
