Hyderabad: Just a year after Ponnala Laxmaiah was appointed the Congress chief of Telangana, he was replaced by Uttam Kumar Reddy today.
The removal of Mr Laxmaiah, who was seen to have the backing of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, had been in the cards since the party's abysmal performance in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Telangana last year.
Following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the Congress had hoped to win the goodwill votes in Telangana,.
Instead, it ended up winning won only 21 of the state's 119 assembly seats and two of 17 Parliamentary seats. In Seemandhra, as expected, it faced the voters' wrath.
Mr Laxmaiah's selection had been something of a gamble for the party, though he belonged to the crucial backward castes. But the backward castes, which comprise over 60 PC of the state's voters, are not known for voting en masse.
Mr Laxmaiah's age - 72 - also placed him at a disadvantage. Mr Reddy, who had been a fighter pilot in the Air Force, is 52.
While he hit the headlines for wrong news - a car allegedly belonging to him was found stashed with cash - Caste and youth (what worked for Reddy) worked in favour of the erstwhile working president of the Congress.
Before his induction in Congress in 1994, Mr Reddy had flown MIG-21 and MIG-23 aircraft in frontline fighter squadrons, and was decorated for gallantry in Siachen and other operations. He had also served as the ADC and Comptroller to the President of India.