The ongoing spat between Labour Minister M. Malla Reddy and Telangana Congress committee president A. Revanth continued for the fourth day on Saturday with the former making a fresh allegation that the Congress leader had been blackmailing him ever since he secured the Malkajgiri MP ticket in 2014 on behalf of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
“He feels I snatched the party nomination that was meant for him and ever since he has been harassing me,” the Minister claimed at a press conference here on Saturday. “The issue was also brought to the notice of the TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and I showed all the documents to him as well,” he said.
It was widely believed that in 2014 general elections Mr. Revanth Reddy, then in TDP, was in race for the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat but Mr. Malla Reddy, who was novice to politics, secured the ticket surprising everyone. The TDP in alliance with the BJP won the seat but Mr. Malla Reddy after a few months of winning defected to the TRS.
Mr. Malla Reddy was responding to the allegations made by Mr. Revanth Reddy on illegally acquiring land for his university as well as the medical college owned by him. He refuted the charges and said mere showing of some papers and making wild allegations would not make truth false. He said Mr. Revanth Reddy had the habit of using the RTI to blackmail people and he was doing the same with him. He clarified that his daughter-in-law had just 350 sq yds in Jawahar Nagar and not five acres as alleged by the Congress leader.
Similarly, the 16 acres given as gift deed by his relative Srinivas Reddy to him was not where the Malla Reddy university was established, but outside of it. He also showed documents stating that his engineering colleges and other educational institutions were functioning as per the norms and there were no deviations as alleged.
The Minister said whatever he had earned was through hard work from selling milk to establishing a university and asked Mr. Revanth to prove where he got his assets from.
Advising the Congress president to stop ridiculing others, he asked him to start respecting elders. “There are thousands of students and parents who respect me for the careers and bright future I have given them through my educational institutions.”
