Top leaders leave Congress in Telangana and Gujarat
Reddy alleges Congress has ‘match-fixing’ with the TRS, says people no longer have confidence that a leader elected on a party ticket will remain
Former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy resigned from the Congress on Tuesday, four days ater the party expelled him for six years following his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The senior leader announced his resignation from primary membership of the party while slamming the state leadership.
He is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Reddy, son of late chief minister Marri Chenna Reddy, told reporters that he was quiting the party with a heavy heart and has writen a leter to party leader Sonia Gandhi, explaining the reasons for his decision.
Also a former vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), he alleged that the Congress has “match-fixing” with the state’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
He said the Congress was on a decline in Telangana and people no longer have confidence that a leader elected on a party ticket will remain.
He alleged that the Congress has failed to play the role of opposition party.
“The Congress party should have taken up issues on behalf of people but it is acting contrary to this,” he said.
The former minister said the Congress had been losing elections since the time when Utam Kumar Reddy was the president of the party’s state unit.
He also alleged that those who have money power are calling the shots in the party.
The Congress expelled Reddy on Nov.18 for his anti-party activities.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Commitee (TPCC) Disciplinary Action Commitee Chairman G Chinna Reddy issued the expulsion order and sent the same to All India Congress Commitee (AICC) for ratification.
The action came ater Reddy met Shah in Delhi during which he was accompanied by BJP state president Bandi Sanjay and party vice-president DK Aruna.
Reddy’s resignation has come as a fresh blow to the Congress in Telangana.
In July, MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy had quit the party and joined the BJP.
He contested the recent by-election from Munugode constituency as BJP candidate but lost to the TRS candidate Prabhakar Reddy. The Congress candidate finished a poor third. Rajagopal Reddy’s brother and Congress party’s star campaigner Komatireddy Venkat Reddy had abstained from campaigning in the bypoll.
Venkat Reddy, an MP, was also served show cause notice by the party ater an audio went viral in which he is heard directing the Congress leaders in Munugode to work for his brother.
Separately, Kaminiba Rathod, a former MLA from Dehgam constituency, on Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the Congress party ater withdrawing her candidature from the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections as an independent.
Earlier in the day, she submited her resignation to GPCC president Jagdish Thakor, without mentioning a reason for her decision.
Rathod told the media that she will decide at an appropriate time whether to join any political party or not.
She represented the party in the state assembly from 2012 to 2017 and won the election on a party ticket in 2012 with just a 2,297 vote margin. But she lost the 2017 polls to the BJP candidate by a 10,860 vote margin.
In the election scheduled for Dec.5, she was a contender for the assembly seat, but the party denied a ticket to her.
Later Rathod alleged that the party leaders sold out tickets for Rs1 crore and she also released an audio clip, about her conversation with them in which she is negotiating for tickets and ready to pay money.
Political sources from the party said that she has withdrew the form in favour of a BJP candidate, ater BJP senior leaders convinced her and offered to join the party.
Separately, the Congress unit in Karnataka on Tuesday questioned the state’s ruling BJP government on the deletions of 27 lakh names from the voters’ list. State Congress president DK Shivakumar said that for any addition and deletion, Form 7 is compulsory.