Stung by the defection of five party MLCs, the Congress leadership on Thursday squarely blamed the TRS leadership for encouraging floor crossing.
On Thursday, close to a dozen senior Congress leaders led by CLP leader K. Jana Reddy addressed separate press conferences to lash out at the TRS for luring party MLCs. The response from the Congress leaders to the defections was mixed with some of them demanding that lack of a charismatic leader and failure to effectively counter TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao had demoralised the party rank and file.
Mr. Jana Reddy felt that collective leadership and united show alone would bring in the much needed confidence to the party leaders and cadres. He claimed that the party had deserving and capable leaders, who could run the show. But, party MLA T. Jeevan Reddy, who was sitting next to Mr. Jana Reddy said there was urgent need to revamp the TPCC as the present leadership failed to boost the morale of the party cadre.
Rajya Sabha member Palvai Goverdhan Reddy went a step ahead and blamed the central leadership saying they did not bother to review the poll performance. He also said party men were not too pleased by the functioning of the party leaders from Gandhi Bhavan. Former Ministers – J. Geetha Reddy, D.K. Aruna and Danam Nagender – faulted the MLCs for shifting their loyalties. They demanded that they should resign their seats and continue in TRS.
Meanwhile, two MLCs – N.Rajalingam and T. Bhanuprasad — lashed out at the TPCC leadership for forcing them to defect. They said the leadership had failed to recognise the true Congressmen but gave importance to leaders, who lost elections.
