Hyderabad, March 24: A blame game has begun in the Congress over the setback it has suffered in the elections to the Legislative Council from the Local Authorities Constituencies.
Transport Minister Botcha Satyanarayana was critical of the “match fixing” between the Congress and the TDP in some places and the Congress and Jagan group in others. “Such results are bound to be there if a national party does not have a policy for dealing with regional parties,” he said.
He took a dig at Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for depending more on other people rather than trying to mend fences with his political opponent, former Minister P. Ramachandra Reddy, in Chittoor district. He denounced the ‘nexus’ between the Congress and TDP and the Congress and Jagan group and questioned the need to have an ‘unholy alliance’ with the TDP in some districts. Party leaders put the blame on lack of coordination and lackadaisical attitude of some senior leaders in not taking note of the impending trouble from within the party. Leaders blamed the Chief Minister’s ‘non-serious’ approach and ‘overconfidence’ in the polls when Jagan loyalists were determined to defeat the Congress.
Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy blamed former Minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy for Congress candidate Patil Venugopal Reddy’s defeat from the Anantapur Local Authorities Constituency. In spite of having the numbers to win the election, the “Congress has been forced to lose” as Mr. Diwakar Reddy openly colluded with the TDP, he said.
“He has proved to be a betrayer of the party and steps should be taken to weed out such harmful elements,” Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said.
Addressing a press conference, the Minister said that the Congress had 28 votes more than its rivals, but over 40 persons voted against the official candidate. while another 32 were prevented from casting their vote at Mr. Diwakar Reddy’s behest.
–Agencies