Former PCC president D. Srinivas said on Tuesday that he was “being driven out of the party” to which he had been loyal for over 40 years. “Total injustice had been done to me in the Congress and I was humiliated all through,” he told The Hindu adding that after the recent Legislative Council elections, none of the top leadership tried to call him and reassure him.
Mr. Srinivas, who was also the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council till recently, is said to be upset at the manner in which he was sidelined in recent times. According to sources, the developments of the past few months when a BC leader like Ponnala Lakshmaiah was eased out and replaced by an OC leader has not gone down well with the senior leader.
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He is understood to have lamented before his close aides that despite his contribution in bringing back the Congress to power in 2004 and 2009 elections, the high command has not been sympathetic to him. “It was only at the insistence of Ms. Sonia Gandhi that I was made the PCC president for the second time despite senior State leaders conniving against me,” he reportedly told his supporters.
Mr. Srinivas, it is said, is cut up with a top AICC leader, whom he blames for his present plight. “The said leader is solely responsible for denying a ticket in the recent Council elections,” he reportedly told his aides. He was conspicuous by his absence at the 94th birth anniversary celebrations of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, where AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh was the chief guest.
Sources said the TRS leadership has promised that he would be given respectable position in the party. It would be a boost for the TRS also as Mr. Srinivas is considered an influential leader from the Munnuru Kapu community. “I have not yet taken a decision. Nevertheless, I had turned down the offer from the BJP as I want to be seen as a leader with secular credentials,” he said.
For the record, Mr. Srinivas has lost the Assembly elections in 2009, 2014 and a by-election in 2010 from Nizamabad and Nizamabad rural constituency.
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