HYDERABAD: A statement made by TRS working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday that two Congress MPs would be leaving the party in the next few days has created a flutter, prompting senior Congress leaders to react sharply.
AICC in-charge Manickam Tagore told Rao to focus on keeping his flock together, as one of his family members was about to leave the TRS.
“Hope he stops spreading lies and instead concentrates on his departments, which have failed TRS. We are hearing that his family members may be leaving TRS. We all know Uttam’s commitment towards Gandhi’s and Congress,” said Tagore, retweeting a response by Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy’s tweet that refuted Rama Rao’s charge.
Earlier Uttam Kumar Reddy had tweeted that Rama Rao’s speculative media statement about Congress MPs leaving the party was completely baseless. “All of us are working together to make Rahulji’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana an unprecedented success,” he said.
Given the fact that apart from PCC chief A Revanth Reddy, the party’s other MPs are Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, the brother of BJP candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, the needle of suspicion was pointed towards the latter two. While Uttam Kumar Reddy tried to brush aside the allegation, Venkat Reddy did not respond. DC could not get the Bhongir MP’s response despite attempts to reach him.
Meanwhile linking the absence of Venkat Reddy, a star campaigner, in Munugode to supporting his brother Rajgopal Reddy in a clandestine manner, local leaders in the constituency have demanded that the party initiate action against the MP.
P. Saidulu, who earlier alleged that Venkat Reddy was building pressure within the party to support his brother, wondered at a press conference in Munugode: “Why is he keeping away from the campaign, if he is with the Congress? If action is not initiated against Venkat Reddy, we shall be resigning from the party.”
Meanwhile Sangareddy MLA T. Jagga Reddy ridiculed the statements of Rama Rao and felt that this was quite impossible given the stature of the MPs.
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