Perhaps for the first time, a tribal leader is going to be the new president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee in place of chief minister A Revanth Reddy, who is still continuing in the post even after the completion of his term last month.
According to party sources, the Congress high command is understood to have finalised the name of senior leader and Mahabubabad MP Balaram Naik, who had earlier been a Union minister in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.
There has been intense lobbying for the PCC chief post by several seniors, including Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, AICC leader A Sampath Kumar, former MPs V Hanumantha Rao and Madhu Yashki Goud and PCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud.
While Sampath Kumar is a Dalit, Hanumantha Rao, Yashki and Mahesh Kumar Goud belong to the BC communities and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy is from the Reddy community.
However, the Congress high command is said to be of the view that it will send wrong signals if the PCC chief is given to the Reddy community again; hence, Rajagopal Reddy is ruled out from the race.
Going by the caste equations, the high command thought, it would be better to give it to the Scheduled Tribes, who had never been in the post in the past, while all the other communities had represented it.
In fact, Revanth Reddy is said to have lobbied for his loyalist and state minister Dhanasari Anasuya alias Seethakka, who is also a popular tribal leader.
But the high command is learnt to have preferred a senior and experienced leader like Balram Naik, sources said.
The announcement of Balram Naik is expected to be made by August 15, after the return of the chief minister from his foreign tour, sources added.