Internal bickering in Cong refuses to die down

HYDERABAD: Internal bickering within the Congress seems to be refusing to die down. Even as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Telangana Manickam Tagore was chairing preparatory meetings on Wednesday, A. Maheshwar Reddy, AICC programmes implementation committee chairman, expressed unhappiness over the way he was being ignored and the way important communication was not being shared.

Meanwhile, former NDMA vice-chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy, terming Tagore as ‘agent of Revanth’ (TPCC chief Revanth Reddy), blamed him for the chaos within the party. Speaking to mediapersons at his residence, Shashidhar Reddy, who had been keeping mum for months, once again spoke up.

Even as the senior leaders were expressing concern over the way party was being shaped up under the leadership of Revanth Reddy and Tagore, rumours were afloat that both Maheshwar and Shashidhar Reddy had decided to resign from the party. Both refuted the claims and hoped that the issues would be resolved internally.

“There are differences of opinion, but they will be resolved in a closed door meeting. I shall be dealing with these rumours,” said Maheshwar Reddy, former MLA from Nirmal.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Shashidhar Reddy, indirectly referring to the way Revanth Reddy had ridiculed the concept of seniority within the party by drawing parallels to ‘home guards’ and IPS officials, at a recent public meeting at Munugode, felt that the TPCC chief had 'crossed the line'.

“In the meeting chaired by Rahul Gandhi on April 4, it was made clear that any differences should be resolved internally. But so far there is no such mechanism in place,” Shashidhar Reddy pointed out.

Shashidhar Reddy was particular about the feedback being sent to the high command and alleged that even poll strategist K. Sunil’s report was manipulated. “The information is parallelly manufactured at another office (reference to Revanth Reddy’s place at Jubilee Hills). Sunil also changed reports,” he alleged.

He questioned the way Revanth Reddy handled the issue of Komatireddy brothers. “I was disturbed by the recent turn of events. I had never seen this kind of situation in four decades of my political career,” he felt.