Hyderabad, November 21: The snide remarks against the Congress president Sonia Gandhi by Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s television channel Sakshi have left many Congress leaders in the state seething with anger.
Known Sonia loyalist and Jagan- baiter, V Hanumantha Rao, was the first to spit fire against his young parliamentary colleague for trying to pour scorn on a ‘great leader’ like Sonia. “This is an unpardonable mistake that Jagan has committed. The time has come to expose him,’’ Hanumantha Rao, a member of Rajya Sabha, said and appealed to Congress workers to boycott Sakshi newspaper and television channel run by the MP.
Hanumantha Rao said: ‘’We shall not tolerate if Jagan displays such temerity to lampoon Sonia who sacrificed everything for the sake of the country.” He said all the scandals that were alleged to have happened during Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure would be dug out and exposed.
‘’As loyal party workers, we shall not keep quiet. We are ready to take on him head-on,” the Rajya Sabha member asserted.
Several other state Congress leaders also came down heavily on Sakshi TV for telecast of the news story targeting Sonia Gandhi.
Besides condemning the news report, some of them have demanded unconditional apology by Sakshi management.
Former chief minister N Janardhan Reddy remarked that the remarks made by Sakshi TV channel were more absurd than the remarks made by RSS leader Sudershan against Sonia Gandhi.
Even opposition parties have not made such allegations that Sonia Gandhi held Swiss Bank accounts.
Panchayat raj minister Botsa Satyanarayana remarked that it was not proper to air such views against the Congress chief with an intention to gain political mileage.
APCC chief D Srinivas said that he would leave it to their wisdom for making such a criticism against Sonia Gandhi without recognising the latter’s ‘stature and sacrifices’. As for scams like 2G Spectrum etc., these problems were arising because of coalition government in the country. He hoped that the Congress would get absolute majority and would form the next government on its own in 2014 elections.
AICC secretary and MLC P Sudhakar Reddy warned of approaching the Press Council of India for telecast of ‘baseless’ stories.
Secunderabad Cantonment MLA P Shankar Rao warned of filing a PIL in the court if Sakshi management fails to tender an unconditional apology to the nation and the Congress chief. The Congress activists would stage dharnas at all Sakshi offices in the state if there was no response from the management within 24 hours, he warned.
–Agencies