Internal bickering in the Congress, especially the differences between All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary B.K. Hariprasad and Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy is all set to attract criticism from the Opposition in the on-going legislature session.
Following a statement made by Mr. Hariprasad holding the district in-charge Ministers accountable for the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Ramalinga Reddy, who is also in charge of Bangalore city, indirectly gave it back to the AICC general secretary at a press conference recently.
AccountabilityWithout naming Mr. Hariprasad, Mr. Reddy said, “If Ministers are accountable, then the AICC general secretaries are equally responsible. The performance of the AICC general secretary in his home constituency should also be put to evaluation. The party polled 50,000 less votes than what it had polled during the Assembly elections.” Mr. Reddy, who pointed out that the AICC general secretary was also in charge of some States during the elections, said, “If our performance has to be evaluated, even his work in each State has to be evaluated.” Mr. Hariprasad was in charge of Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, where the Congress faced a miserable defeat.
Sources said this issue was likely to cause embarrassment to the party, which is already facing criticism for including people with political affiliations in its probable list of candidates for nominations to the Legislative Council.
‘Nothing new’“Differences among leaders within the party are not new. It is just that the open spat between these two leaders will only prompt the Opposition to point fingers at the party,” sources said.
Sources also said that the issue is likely to attract the high command’s attention.
