Three days after his dismissal from the Cabinet, D. L. Ravindra Reddy vent his ire on Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy by picking holes in the new welfare schemes launched by his government.
On his return from a visit to London, Dr. Ravindra Reddy gave his side of version on the ouster from Cabinet. At a 75-minute long press conference at the media point on the Assembly premises, the former Minister indirectly praised late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy for his initiative in launching welfare schemes and patted him for its implementation while deriding Mr. Kiran Reddy for preferring publicity blitzkrieg rather than focussing on its proper grounding.
Accusing the Chief Minister of aping old schemes and renaming them to get credit, he took a dig at the Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu scheme saying Mr. Kiran Kumar would go down in the history as a leader, who named a scheme after himself.
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Elaborating further, he said under Amma Hastham scheme, nine essential commodities were not being supplied for the last three months. Bangaru Thalli girl child scheme has become a farce as it was a mere replica of Lakhpati scheme launched by late Rajasekhara Reddy.
The Ministers were in dark about the salient features of the scheme. On Indiramma Kalalu, he lashed out at the Chief Minister for ignoring Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raj Narasimha, who had worked hard to ensure that the SC/ST Sub Plan was made into legislation.
About his dismissal, Dr. Reddy asked why the Chief Minister failed to follow the tradition set by former Chief Minister Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy who had called him and asked him to resign in wake of Mydukur liquor tragedy. Why should I be sacked unceremoniously, when I had already submitted my papers to AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad?” he said. The six-time MLA from Mydukur said he was neither a tainted Minister or someone facing corruption or criminal charges to deserve such humiliating treatment.
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Dr. Reddy said he would not quit the Congress but added that a he would meet party supporters in Mydukur on Wednesday. He claimed that it was the high command and not the Chief Minister which had made him a Minister. “All through my stint in the Cabinet, I only raised public issues and did not make any personal comments against the Chief Minister,” he remarked.