The Telangana Congress has appointed 66-year-old Bomma Mahesh Goud, a member of the Backward Classes (BC) Goud community, as the new state Congress chief on Friday, September 6. The last Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief was incumbent Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
The appointment is viewed as an attempt to consolidate the BC community in Telangana and to diversify the Telangana Cabinet which constitutes several upper caste leaders and members of the Reddy community like Uttam Kumar Reddy, Sridhar Babu, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and others. The Telangana Cabinet currently has only two BC leaders – state Transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar and Endowments minister Konda Surekha.
“I shall fulfil the responsibilities entrusted to me and strengthen the organisation further. I shall make myself available to the party leaders and cadre round-the-clock and coordinate with the state government in the development of Telangana,” Bomma Mahesh said, following his appointment.
A Congress leader from Nizamabad district, Mahesh Goud, was also elected as a Member of the Telangana Legislative Council in January 2024 under the MLA quota.
This isn’t the first attempt made by the Telangana government to champion themselves as supporters of the Goud community. In July 2024, a video of Telangana CM Revanth Reddy speaking to a toddy tapper in the state as part of the ‘Katamayya Protection Shield’ kits distribution program. The program was intended to distribute protection kits to toddy tappers through the Telangana BC Corporation to assist them while working.
“Tell me what we (the government) can do to assist you. To support Gouds we have appointed Prabhakar as minister and Bomma Madhu as MLC. If there is anything you need, we are here,” CM Revanth said after complimenting the shirt worn by a toddy tapper. On Saturday, September 7, Telangana Congress shared photos of Bomma Mahesh participating in a Ganesh Chaturthi pooja at the Chief Minister’s residence.
Ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) held a meeting to commemorate the birth and death anniversaries of freedom fighter Sardar Sarvai Papanna Goud. “Papanna Goud stood as a symbol of self-respect and courage of Telangana. We (the then Bharat Rashtra Samithi-led state government) are fulfilling the aspirations of Papanna Goud by creating political opportunities for all sections and grooming several leaders from the BC community,” he had said.