Congress stepped up its verbal attack on Munugode MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy with senior leaders describing him as a ‘deceiver’ who had become a pawn in the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to harm the Congress that gave him a political identity.
At a series of press conferences held by party leaders, they said the MLA, who resigned from the party accusing it of being inefficient to fight the ruling TRS, was trying to find some scapegoat to leave the party to protect his business interests. The Congress leaders rejected the allegations made against TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy and said Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy wanted to generate some public sympathy after realising that people weren’t backing his ‘business decision.’
Senior leaders, including TPCC working president Anjan Kumar Yadav, former Ministers Sambhani Chandrashekhar, G. Chinna Reddy and Gaddam Vinod, senior vice president Mallu Ravi, Addanki Dayakar, Bellaiah Naik, Challa Narsimha Reddy and Darpalli Rajashekhar Reddy said it was laughable that the dissident MLA was trying to blame Mr. Revanth Reddy while backstabbing the Congress all these days.
Mr. Vinod and Mr. Sambhani Chandrashekhar said he should have left the party long ago if he had not liked it rather than moving closely with the BJP government for his contracts. “He had benefitted a lot from the Congress and left it purely for business reasons,” they said exuding the confidence that Munugode would see a Congress candidate emerging successful again. Mr. Bellaiah Naik questioned how ₹600-crore company could get contracts worth ₹22,000 crore and asked Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy to introspect on what Congress had done for him. He also challenged him to an open debate on any issue he had raised while calling it quits from the party.
Mr. Mallu Ravi said if development agenda was the reason for his resignation Mr. Reddy should also ask all the BJP MLAs to resign and seek a fresh election. Mr. Dayakar said the Komatireddy brothers carried a lot of respect in Congress and that was why no one had criticised them all these years. But now Munugode would show him his place, he said.
TPCC secretary Bandi Sudhakar said Congress was re-energised after Mr. Revanth Reddy took over and cadre were filled with the confidence of getting back to power and Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy’s criticism of the TPCC president was a reflection of his frustration that Congress was getting stronger under him. He said Mr. Revanth Reddy was made chief after wide consultations within the party.
