The issue of “political coverts” is being widely discussed in the Congress after remarks made by former president of the state Youth Congress, TJR Sudhakar Babu, that some ministers are in touch with the YSR Congress leadership.
Some anti-YSR leaders say there could be some truth in Sudhakar Babu’s allegations but some others dismiss them as totally false.
“It is a known fact that some seniors in the Congress are in contact with the YSRC leadership. It is evident from the active campaigning by the family members and relatives of some ministers and Congress legislators for the victory of YSRC candidates in the recent bypolls,” said a former minister from the coastal Andhra region.
Senior leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao agrees. He said double-dealing by some senior leaders, whose family members campaigned for YSRC in the bypolls, principally contributed to the Congress’s debacle.
“I have been demanding holding of a brainstorming session with party leaders and workers to distinguish party loyalists from betrayers,” Rao said. Nellore MP and YSRC leader Mekapati Rajmohan Reddy’s recent remarks that some senior leaders in the Congress had been in touch with them are also causing ripples in the ruling party circles.
“Before overhauling the party, the party’s state leadership should identify those who are covertly helping the YSRC and initiate action against them,” a senior MLA from Telangana has demanded. But PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana has dismissed the allegations that some senior leaders in the Congress were covertly helping the YSR Congress as false and baseless.
Talking to journalists at Gandhi Bhavan a few days ago, he made light of the “covert” issue by saying that it was common in politics to keep informers in other parties so as to know the happenings in those parties.
Primary education minister S Sailajanath said on Friday there was no truth in Mekapati’s claim that some Congress leaders were in touch with the YSRC leadership.
“If it is so, YSRC leaders should make their call data list public so as to prove their claim,” he said.