HYDERABAD: Nalgonda MLA Komatireddy Venkat Reddy’s rebellion against the party leadership in the state has brought together the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders, who launched a tirade against Venkat Reddy.
TPCC disciplinary committee chairman M Kodanda Reddy issued a show cause notice to Venkat Reddy seeking explanation for his remarks against TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy, former TPCC chief Ponnala Laxmaiah and other leaders of the party.
“Action will be taken if the MLA does not reply to the notice within a week,’’ Kodanda Reddy said.
Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy termed Venkat Reddy’s outburst as uncalled for and said all the party leaders and representatives should work unitedly for strengthening the party.
“It is only with the permission of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that any state committee is constituted and same is the case with Telangana. Any remarks against the TPCC means finding fault with the decision of Sonia Gandhi,” Jana Reddy said.
MLC Makam Ranga Reddy, TPCC spokesperson D Sravan also criticised Venkat Reddy for his remarks.
Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, however, sounded defiant and made it clear that he would not reply to the show cause notice and the TPCC is not entitled to issue notice to him. “Only Sonia Gandhi has the right to seek an explanation and I will explain the facts to her,” he said.
On the other hand, opposition leader in the Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir made a fervent appeal to his party leaders to restrain from criticising each other in public.
In a media release, Shabbir Ali said Congress is a totally democratic party that was founded on principle of free speech and added that each and every leader and worker has a right to express his/her views.
“However, no one is authorised to speak against others in public fora or media. If any leader has an issue with the leadership, they must raise those issues in party fora than going before the media,’’ he said.
Shabbir Ali requested senior leaders including Venkat Reddy, Sarve Satyanarayana and others to stop criticising the leadership through media.
‘‘They can directly express their grievances before the Congress high command if they are not satisfied with anyone,’’ he said.
“Despite Congress chief Sonia Gandhi giving statehood for Telangana, the Congress party failed to win the last elections largely due to in-fighting. Instead of having the situation deteriorate further, all Telangana Congress leaders should adopt a ‘forget and forgive’ policy, and work unitedly to bring Congress back to power in 2019 elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Uttam Kumar Reddy, who, as per sources is currently abroad, took a serious view of Venkat Reddy’s remarks and decided to take up the issue with the party high command.