‘5 to 64 Cong MLAs in Telangana Didn't Happen Overnight’: Manikrao Thakare, Who Had A ‘Hand’ in Win | Exclusive

After losing the Hindi heartland to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently held state elections, the Congress has only one reason to celebrate and get motivated for the 2024 general election – the win in Telangana.

The Congress has won 64 of the 119 seats in the state. While the credit for the victory has largely gone to Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Telangana Manikrao Thakare, too, played a crucial role in keeping the flock together and giving confidence to party leaders.

Speaking exclusively with News18, Thakare said, “We were at the third position and the BJP was ahead of us. People wanted to vote for us, but due to internal issues of the party, they had lost confidence in us. It took one-two months to resolve the issues completely, which helped the party regain people’s trust and resulted in the big win…Going from 5 MLAs to 65 MLAs didn’t happen overnight."

THE INTERNAL ISSUES

Thakare, who has also held the responsibility of the Maharashtra State Congress Chief, was given the responsibility of Telangana in January 2022. “Then, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had good numbers in the state assembly, so the Congress had to fight the BRS and BJP. Internal issues were a cause of concern for us. We earned people’s trust through various programmes. We also announced our programme talking about what the Congress plans to do after winning the election. People liked our six-point programmes and so supported us. We got the support of the youth. Revanth Reddy also held many rallies and created a momentum for the party in the state," said Thakare.

‘PLANNING BEGAN IN JAN 2022’

“From 5 MLAs to 65 MLAs in the state is a great achievement for the party, but it didn’t happen overnight. We started strengthening our cadre and gave them the confidence that we would take everyone together. We convinced the people of Telangana that we would fight this election together. People wanted to support the Congress, but earlier we were not together, so we started to plan things from January 2022 and slowly it showed results," said Thakare, adding that the Karnataka assembly election results and Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra also helped in the win.

‘TOOK ONE STEP AT A TIME’

“After resolving the internal party issues, we gave the responsibility to the state president to conduct rallies and take senior leaders together. No one used to talk about the Congress. The media, too, had ignored the party in the state. The BJP and BRS never used to comment on us, as they thought we didn’t have a strong presence in the state. Later, when they saw that the Congress was united and taking small steps ahead, they started to target us. This helped the party in the state. We executed our election plan exactly the way we decided. We used to make a plan for every day and execute it and take one step at a time," he said.

IMPACT ON 2024

Thakare thinks that the recent win in Telangana will have a positive impact on the upcoming general elections and even in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Elections. “In Karnataka, we have delivered what we promised. We will do the same in Telangana. This will help us gain the confidence of people as they will know that the Congress fulfills its promises. We have three MPs and we are confident that we can win 13-14 of the 17 seats in the general elections. We have started our preparation already and we have a plan for the Lok Sabha Elections," he said.

THE FAILURE OF BRS

“Despite being in power for two tenures, CM KCR failed to resolve the major issues. He also didn’t pay attention to the demands of the people of Telangana, and his government was involved in corruption. Many big schemes, which were floated by his government, ended up facing allegations of corruption. His government used the money earned from corruption in the local elections. In other states, too, they used their money to help other parties. They didn’t pay attention to the main issue of Telangana. KCR only ensured that his family members got more power or remained part of power. They didn’t complete the promises they made to the people of Telangana. KCR never came to the Mantralaya, he always ran his office from his farmhouse. He never met the people of Telangana, he hardly used to meet government officials and even his MLAs. He was just giving big advertisements in all leading newspapers of Maharashtra and proclaiming his government is pro-farmer, but in reality, farmers were committing suicides in the state. He was misleading people."

KEEPING THE FLOCK TOGETHER

On the question of how the Congress will keep its flock together, Thakare said, “Since last January, not a single leader of the party has taken a stand different from the party leadership… I don’t see any such situation arising in the state where our MLAs will jump ship."