Former Union Minister D. Purandeswari said that she did not expect such mudslinging against her by the Congress as the one resorted to by her erstwhile Ministerial colleague Jairam Ramesh. He accused her of quitting the party as it did not consider her request to construct a major port at Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district where her family owned 1,000 acres of land.
In a sarcastic manner, she told a press conference here on Saturday that she would have been too happy if Mr. Ramesh had also identified the land with survey numbers so that she took possession of the same.
Admitting that she had voiced her demand for a major port at Ramayapatnam in the presence of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other MPs from Seemandhra, Ms. Purandeswari denied having any selfish motive in the preference for that place. She pitched for it because the Central government identified non-viable Duggirajapatnam for development of a port in the bifurcation Bill.
Duggirajapatnam was located close to Sriharikota where tests of space shuttles often took place and the port faced the threat of closure for ten days during every test. She also took exception to Mr. Ramesh’s comment that she was disloyal to the Congress and said she was actually abused and humiliated in the party. She was particularly hurt when the Congress general secretary in-charge of the State Digvijay Singh asked her to vacate Visakhapatnam seat and look for an alternative. Her priority would be Visakhapatnam even in BJP which she joined recently.
