New Delhi: The internal strife within the Congress Party came wide open on Tuesday with senior party leader V. Hanumantha Rao lambasting former finance minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti for the party’s defeat in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
“Today we (Congress) are on the road because of Chidambaram’s son Karti. He exercised his influence in the selection of a chief minister (apparently Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy) in Andhra, who ultimately went against the Congress Working Committee’s decision and party president Sonia Gandhi,” alleged Hanumantha Rao.
“The chief minister, much against the decision of the CWC, demanded the creation of a separate Telangana state and raised slogans against Sonia Gandhi. What happened thence? After creation of Telangana, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is ruling over it, while N. Chandrababu Naidu is ruling over Andhara Pradesh, and we are on the road. It all because of Chidambara’s son whose name is Karti,” he alleged.
Agitating over media reports about alleged the amassment of wealth by Chidambaram’s son, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) members on Tuesday forced repeated adjournments in Parliament during the pre-lunch session, while demanding action against former home minister P. Chidambaram on corruption charges.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned four times and the Lok Sabha thrice by 2 p.m. on the issue.
Agitated members displayed newspapers that reported that Chidambaram’s son had made investments in real estate in several countries, including London, Dubai, Sri Lanka, France and the US.
Presiding officers of both Houses observed that since the person is not a member of either House, they should give a proper notice.
In the Rajya Sabha, some of agitating members sat in the well despite repeated appeals from the Chair.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu urged the AIADMK members in the Lok Sabha that the government has no objection to discussing the issue, provided they give a proper notice.
However, lashing out at the AIDMK, Hanumantha Rao said the protest and disruption by the AIADMK is the BJP’s design to save Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani. “They brought the issue to block our move to bring a privilege motion against the statement made by Irani in connection with Rohit Vemula’s suicide in Parliament,” he added. (ANI)