KHAMMAM / HYDERABAD: Dismissing all rumours of him joining the pink party, Bhadrachalam Congress MLA and Bhadradri Kothagudem DCC president Podem Veeraiah said on Sunday that he has no plans to leave the grand-old party. However, the Congress strongman agreed that pressure has been mounting on him to join the ruling party for quite some time. Speaking to Express, the Congress MLA said that he is more interested in working for a national party than a regional party. He also made it clear that he has no interest in joining a party with an autocratic leadership. When Express asked about the response of Congress leaders towards the incident in which the MLA was booked for distributing essential commodities in his Assembly constituency during the lockdown, Veeraiah said that he had no complaints about this.
Though the party leaders took some time to address the issue, the MLA said that he was satisfied with the way they responded in the end. Meanwhile, Podem Veeraiah agreed that several TRS leaders had approached him requesting to join the pink party after Congress MLAs like Rega Kantha Rao and Vanama Venkateswara Rao switched loyalties. However, the MLA said that he declined the offer back then and added that he would decline it even now. He also noted that he doesn’t have any plan to leave Congress and join a regional party like TRS. The MLA mentioned that he is fond of the freedom Congress has given its cadre and ended the conversation by stating that he would never switch loyalties, no matter what.
Meets Mallu Bhatti
Meanwhile, ending all speculations, Podem Veeraiah met CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka at the latter’s residence in Madhira of Khammam district on Sunday. During the meet, the Bhadrachalam MLA clarified that he has been bound by the ideology of the grand-old party from the beginning of his political career itself, and revealed that he has not even thought of leaving Congress. He condemned all the rumours of him planning to join TRS and said that he is well comfortable in the party. Responding to the rumours, Bhatti Vikramarka said that the TRS has been playing mind games with Congress MLAs for quite some time now and condemned the attitude of CM and TRS supremo KCR in suppressing all Opposition parties. He also alleged that the Chief Minister is playing cheap politics.