Senior politician and former Minister of Telangana Nagam Janardhan Reddy quit the Congress party reportedly for being denied a ticket to contest the upcoming November 30 Assembly election. In his resignation letter to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, Janardhan Reddy said that the party has done “injustice to him”. It has ignored his efforts in strengthening the Congress in the Nagarkurnool constituency, where the party had not won in the last 30 years, he said.
“It is very unfortunate that a national party like Congress is revealing its vulnerability and conducting itself in an irresponsible manner. Hence I am resigning from the Congress party,” Janardhan Reddy said in the letter. He alleged that the state leadership was “misleading” the central leadership of the party, and destroying the Congress in Telangana.
Reddy has won from the Nagarkurnool constituency six times, but as a member of the Telugu Desam Party and later as an independent candidate. After that, he was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party for five years before joining the Congress in 2018.
For the upcoming Assembly polls, the Congress has so far released the names of candidates contesting in 100 of the 119 Assembly seats in the state. Two lists have come out so far, and a third is expected to be out soon. The second list, which came out on October 27, features candidates who switched to the party from the BJP and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Former BJP leader and Munugode Ex-MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy who recently returned to the Congress, former BRS leaders Thummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy were among several others who were allocated seats. Janardhan Reddy most likely quit as his name would not feature in the third and final list as well.
Reddy criticised the party’s decision to give tickets to “turncoats”, and said that those who have been serving the party for a long time were ignored. He lashed out at Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy.
The Congress has named K Rajesh Reddy as its candidate for Nagarkurnool who is son of BRS Member of Legislative Council Damodar Reddy. Damodar Reddy had quit the BRS on October 26 and was reportedly set to join the Congress on October 31. However, BRS leaders KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao called on him and invited him to join the party again. After the meeting, Janardhan Reddy told media persons that he will join the BRS for the future of Nagarkurnool. He said he would work with BRS candidate Marri Janardhan Reddy in Nagarkurnool.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI(M)) in Telangana is also considering ending its proposed alliance with the Congress, after the Congress refused to accommodate two of the five constituencies it preferred. A decision on this is expected to be out in a day or two.
With inputs from IANS