HYDERABAD: “It’s not new for Congress leaders to leave the party. Ponnala Lakshmaiah left the Congress today. Before him leaders like K Keshava Rao and DK Aruna also left the party,” remarked TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy, reacting to Ponnala’s resignation blaming the grand old party for meting out step-motherly treatment to BC leaders.
“Ponnala should be ashamed of himself for leaving the Congress after associating himself with the party for over 40 years. You served as the PCC chief and a minister. Why should you quit at a time when you have one foot in the grave?” remarked Revanth.
The TPCC chief said that Ponnala had lost the election by 40,000 votes when he was PCC chief and again bit the dust by 50,000 votes when he was given another opportunity. “We have not even finalised the Jangaon candidate. He is one of the three candidates in the list. Yet, he displayed petty-mindedness and resigned to weaken the party. He should immediately tender an unconditional apology to the cadre and withdraw his resignation letter,” he said.
“We have finalised the list after considering various aspects. The Congress will give more seats to BCs than the BRS. We will allocate 50 per cent of seats to BCs, STs and SCs,” he declared.
Asks Ali Masqati to contest from Charminar segment
Meanwhile, the party leadership called Ali Masqati to Delhi and requested him to contest from the Charminar segment. Masqati responded by saying that he would take a decision after consulting his family members.