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Moving forward following the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, the Congress on Tuesday night appointed separate Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs for Seemandhra and Telangana. Raghuvira Reddy has been appointed PCC chief for Seemandhra while the party has named Ponnala Lakshmaiah as the state chief for Telangana.
Besides, Uttam Reddy has been appointed as the working president for Telangana. The announcements were being anticipated for the last few days after the declaration of the poll schedule. "Consequent to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal to appoint the chiefs of the Seemandhra and Telangana pradesh congress committees, chairs of campaign, manifesto and pradesh election committees," party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a party release.
The Pradesh Election Committee for Telangana has 23 members, including Union minister Jaipal Reddy, party MPs Ponnam Prabhakar and Renuka Chowdhary and All India Congress Committee secretary Hanumantha Rao. Union Ministers Kishore Chandra Deo, Chiranjeevi, Pallam Raju, KS Rao, Panabaka Laxmi and JD Selam, are among the members in the PEC for Seemandhra.
The party has also announced the creation of a campaign committee for Seemandhra, which will be chaired by Chiranjeevi. Senior leader Damodar Raja Narsimha will head the similar body in Telangana. Campaign committees for both the states will also have a co-chairman. A Ramnarayana Reddy heads the Manifesto Committee for Seemandhra while D Sridhar Babu is the manifesto chairman for Telangana.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorgansiation Bill, which will pave the way for the creation of a separate Telangana state, has been cleared by Parliament. Setting up of separate committees for poll-related work in Telangana and the residual state of Andhra Pradesh is being seen as an attempt by Congress to put its house in order before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.