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T’gana Cong leader accuses party’s state unit of encouraging defection of legislators from BRS
Jeevan Reddy expressed concern over the growing atrocities by the defected BRS MLAs in their respective constituencies
Senior Telangana Congress leader and former minister T Jeevan Reddy on Thursday accused the state party of encouraging defection of the lawmakers from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and giving them undue importance in the Congress.
In a letter written to All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge, Jeevan Reddy expressed concern over the growing atrocities by the defected BRS MLAs in their respective constituencies, targeting sincere Congress leaders and cadre, who had been striving hard for the party for several decades.
He marked a copy of the letter to top Congress leaders – Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, besides Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and state PCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud.
Jeevan Reddy, a legislative council member from Jagitial, referred to the recent murder of his close follower M Gangi Reddy, allegedly by a follower of sitting Jagitial MLA M Sanjay Kumar who had recently defected from the BRS into the Congress.
“Sanjay Kumar should disclose whether the accused was his follower or not and whether or not he had campaigned for the BRS in the last elections. I am not able to digest the present political situation in the state Congress, which is plagued by a series of defections from the BRS. It is causing me a lot of mental agony and stress,” he said.
Jeevan Reddy wondered how the Congress had admitted BRS lawmaker and former state assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, who had earlier encouraged defection of the Congress MLAs into the BRS during the previous K Chandrasekhar Rao government.
“It was Srinivas Reddy who was responsible for the denial of leader of opposition status to the Congress during the BRS regime. Yet, he was inducted into the Congress now and given a prominent position in the government,” he alleged.
The former minister alleged that the Congress had been ill-treating him, despite the fact that he had served the party for over four decades. “Now, it is for the party to decide my future course of action. I don’t want to quit the party, but I am spending sleepless nights thinking how long I should continue to suffer humiliation in the party,” he said.
Stating that the Congress government in the state led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy was functioning effectively, Jeevan Reddy said he would definitely meet the chief minister and express his views. “When the Congress has a comfortable majority in the state assembly, why should it encourage defections from the BRS? Is it not against the philosophy of Rahul Gandhi?” he asked.
The Congress MLC regretted that when the BRS was in power, its MLAs used to indulge in attacks on the Congress workers. “Now the same leaders are defecting to the Congress and still continuing to attack the Congress workers,” he alleged.
He demanded that the Congress should give clarification on whether it would continue to encourage defections into the party.
