Days after being sacked from the Telangana cabinet headed by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, former minister Konda Surekha on Sunday made it clear that she had no plans whatsoever to quit the Congress and asserted that she would contest the next assembly elections on Congress ticket.
Addressing Congress leaders and workers from the Parkal and Warangal (East) assembly constituencies at a hotel in Warangal, Surekha said her removal from the Cabinet had certainly caused her a lot of disappointment only because she felt she had been dropped without a valid reason.
“I was not distressed by losing the cabinet berth, but was pained at the way I was removed from the cabinet. That does not mean I will resign from the Congress and switch over to another party. I grew up in the Congress and will continue to remain a Congress leader,” Surekha said.
She said she had received phone calls from top leaders in the Congress, assuring her that the party would take care of her political interests and asking her not to go into any other party.
Surekha asserted that irrespective of the alleged political conspiracies against her, she would once again secure the Congress ticket from Warangal (East) in the next assembly elections and win the seat. “The Congress will come back to power and I will become a minister again,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Surekha asserted that irrespective of the alleged political conspiracies against her, she would once again secure the Congress ticket from Warangal (East) in the next assembly elections and win the seat. “The Congress will come back to power and I will become a minister again,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}A senior Congress familiar with the development said AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan had a telephonic call to Surekha, asking her to come to New Delhi for talks about her political future.
Confirming the reports, Surekha’s husband and former MLC Konda Murali said the high command had asked her to come to Delhi on Sunday, but she had chosen not to go. “There have been indications that Surekha would be given another important position,” Murali told local reporters in Warangal.
Surekha also indicated that there were signals from the Congress high command that her husband could also be offered a state-level chairperson’s post with cabinet rank.
However, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud feigned ignorance about the high command’s telephonic talks with Surekha. “I am not aware of it. I have no information about the high command’s call to Surekha asking her to come to Delhi,” he said.
She said she would work towards strengthening its organisation ahead of the forthcoming elections and expressed confidence that Congress would win 24 corporator seats in the upcoming municipal corporation elections.
Surekha claimed that during her nearly three years as a minister handling three departments, she had discharged her responsibilities efficiently without giving room to corruption. She said she had not committed even a minor mistake or acquired the slightest blemish during her tenure.
“A ministerial post is only an ornament. If one really wants to work, a position is not necessary,” she said.
Claiming to be one of the senior-most leaders in the Telangana Congress, Surekha said she was confident that she had a political future in the party. She urged party workers to remain united and concentrate on strengthening the Congress rather than being distracted by the recent political developments.