Another Telangana Congress leader slams leadership

Hyderabad: The Congress party in Telangana was rattled again on Wednesday with a senior leader lashing out at state Congress chief and party in-charge for their style of functioning.

M. Shashidhar Reddy alleged that the approach of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief A. Revanth Reddy and party MP and AICC in-charge for Telangana, Manickam Tagore were causing more harm than good to the party.

He alleged that it was Revanth Reddy who was controlling Manickam Tagore instead of the AICC in-charge controlling the TPCC president. He claimed that false reports were being sent to party leader Rahul Gandhi.

Shashidhar Reddy said the party’s central leadership was being kept in the dark about what was happening in the state. He lamented that their voices were going unheard.

The former minister recalled that when they met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and informed him about the problems in the party, he had promised to set up a mechanism to address them but nothing has happened even after four months.

The senior leader said though the party has a committee headed by Jana Reddy to induct leaders from other parties, it was doing nothing. He said unilateral inductions into the party with no coordination with the grass root level leaders giving rise to groupism in the party and harming its interests.

Shashidhar Reddy’s attack on TPCC chief and AICC in-charge came close on the heels of resignation of MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and AICC national spokesman Dasoju Sravan. Both the leaders announced joining the BJP after launching a bitter attack on the party leadership.

Rajagopal Reddy has also resigned from his Munugode Assembly seat, necessitating the by-election.

The speculation that Rajagopal Reddy’s brother and Congress MP Venkat Reddy also planning to switch loyalties to the BJP has also added to the party’s worries.

Shashidhar Reddy slammed Manickam Tagore at a time when the latter was in Hyderabad to hold meetings with party leaders to discuss strategy for Munugode by-election.

During his visit to Telangana in May, Rahul Gandhi warned the leaders against voicing their grievances publicly.

“This is a family. The views may differ. We want to hear views of all but not in the media. It should be in closed doors, the way a family talks,” he had said.

“If there are grievances or complaints we have an internal system. You can openly say whatever you want to say but if anyone goes out and tells something to the media, he will be damaging the Congress party and we will not accept this,” Rahul Gandhi said.