T-Congress failed to counter TRS campaign: Ponnala

Hyderabad, May 21 : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Wednesday admitted that his party failed to counter the election campaign of Telangana Rashtra Samithi wherein it took full credit for the formation of Telangana State.

He was speaking to media persons after paying tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary at Gandhi Bhavan here. Ponnala said that Telangana Congress was ineffective in conveying to the people that it was the Congress party which granted statehood for the region. He said that the sacrifices made by the Congress party for Telangana State too failed to convince the voters. Similarly, the Congress candidates could not counter the TDP-BJP combine in most of the constituencies. He also attributed the loss of Telangana Congress to the Modi wave.

Ponnala said that the Telangana Congress leaders would meet by this month end for introspection and to chalk out the future strategy. He said that he Congress party would play the role of a constructive opposition.

It may be mentioned that the Congress won only 20 seats in the 119-member Telangana Assembly. Several senior leaders including Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Dharampuri Srinivas and Damodar Rajanarasimha had lost the elections in their respective constituencies.  INN