Congress leaders from Telangana have strongly objected to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy holding consultations with the expelled party MPs in the Camp office and demanded that he be sacked immediately for resorting to anti-party activities.
“The party has so far given him a long rope but he has crossed the Lakshman Rekha by inviting the expelled Congress MPs from Seemandhra for discussions. He is challenging the high command directly,” Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar said at a press conference here on Saturday.
Coming down heavily on the Chief Minister and his supporters, Mr. Prabhakar said the action of the Seemandhra MPs inside the Parliament was pre-planned. He blamed them for the ugly scenes and objected to the charge that the Telangana MPs had assaulted them. “The Seemandhra MPs had assaulted us and are now crying hoarse,” he said.
Mr. Prabhakar recalled the threats held out by the Seemandhra leaders, particularly Mr. Rajagopal, who had said he would create a flutter in the Lok Sabha when the bifurcation bill was introduced. The Karimnagar MP took exception to the former’s claim that he was forced to use pepper spray in self defence. Another MP Sabbam Hari had threatened to commit suicide on the floor of the House. All these threats were enough for them to prove their opposition to the bifurcation bill.
Former Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said the Chief Minister was unfit to hold any post as he was hell bent on deriding the Central leadership and opposing its decision. “How can he oppose the CWC and Union Cabinet’s decision to divide the State? If he was against it, he should have resigned on July 30 itself,” he said. He said the Chief Minister, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy would be solely responsible for any untoward incidents in the twin cities if the bifurcation bill was stalled due to some reason.
