Ponnala prefers fresh faces to counter opposition

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah has reportedly decided to replace the old leaders with fresh faces to face the media during the ensuing elections.

Ponnala, on Tuesday, held an in-camera meeting with the party spokespersons and other leaders to brief them about the strategy to be adopted to counter the opposition parties and also to project the Congress party as the creator of Telangana. During the hour-long meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, Ponnala discussed the possible allegations and accusations that the opposition parties, especially the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, could level during the election campaign and their counter.

Interestingly, the big faces of Congress party including former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, former ministers K Jana Reddy, Sridhar Babu, Mohammad Ali Shabbir and other leaders who usually interact with the media were not invited for the meeting. Sources say that Ponnala was building his own team of spokespersons who could convey the party's message with a fresh look without indulging in any controversies.