Revanth adopts YSR citizen engagement model to bridge gap between Telangana government, people and party

File photo of former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy interacting with a delegation of beedi workers from Karimnagar district at his camp office in Hyderabad on November 29, 2006. | Photo credit: Sivakumar PV

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and all his cabinet colleagues will now spend a day on party work, commemorating late Congress Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s rule in the early 2000s, as part of a revival of structured interactions between the leadership and the grassroots.

Congress workers now believe the party should adopt a model similar to that of former United Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Congress stalwart YS Rajasekhar Reddy (YSR), who was known for devoting a fixed part of his day to meeting party workers and members of the public.

Senior party leaders recalled that Rajasekhara Reddy regularly set aside time in the morning to listen to party workers, elected representatives, journalists and citizens. The practice allowed local issues from villages, mandals and constituencies to reach the highest levels of government and party leadership.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, AICC in-charge of Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan, TPCC President B Mahesh Kumar Goud and others at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad

It was a common sight in the YSR camp office: ministers, MLAs and local leaders used these interaction sessions to bring in delegations of party workers from their constituencies, which helped resolve issues and strengthen organizational ties.

“There was time for everyone and the CM’s camp office used to be lively from early in the morning. The meeting with the CM was half settled,” recalls the minister, who was just a normal party worker at the time.

Revanth Reddy is expected to take the same route once the proposed CM’s camp office is ready. The Chief Minister’s residence is currently inadequate if party workers are turning in large numbers.

For now, the Prime Minister wants to take a different approach and make himself and cabinet colleagues available in constituencies along with local MLAs. He indicated this at a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) at Gandhi Bhavan.

“Party instructions are paramount. We all have to stick to PCC president Mahesh Goud’s instructions,” the chief minister said and asked the PCC chief to allocate one assembly constituency to him as well as his ministerial colleagues every week.

The PAC meeting, which was attended by AICC office-bearer Meenakshi Natarajan, ministers and invitees, saw the urgent need to bridge the gap between the government and the party as the government crossed half of its tenure.

The PAC decided that ministers, MPs, MLCs, government advisers, corporate chairmen and senior party leaders would be assigned constituencies and required to visit them regularly to engage with local workers and strengthen the party network.

As per the decision, TPCC President Mahesh Kumar Goud will start allotment of constituencies to Ministers, MPs, MLCs and Councilors from today.

The TPCC president had earlier introduced a program where ministers would regularly visit Gandhi Bhavan to interact directly with party workers and receive representations from the public. As part of the programme, party workers from across the state visited Gandhi Bhavan to highlight issues at the constituency level and seek intervention in matters relating to welfare schemes, local development works and administrative grievances. However, this initiative was terminated for various administrative and logistical reasons.

Published – 30 May 2026 12:20 PM IST