Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy resigns to assembly and Congress

Hyderabad: As anticipated, bypoll to Munugode assembly segment is now inevitable with the sitting Congress legislator Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy making public his decision to quit the assembly and to the Congress party. Reddy, known for his wavering statements, has finally bitten the bullet and declared in a press conference here that he would be resigning […]

Hyderabad: As anticipated, bypoll to Munugode assembly segment is now inevitable with the sitting Congress legislator Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy making public his decision to quit the assembly and to the Congress party. Reddy, known for his wavering statements, has finally bitten the bullet and declared in a press conference here that he would be resigning from the Assembly.

Though he did not declare his intention to join the BJP, it’s an open secret that the BJP central leadership is behind his decision to resign to force a bypoll in Telangana and contest on its behalf. It was only last week Telangana Today reported that Rajagopal Reddy would be joining the BJP.

Fielding a volley of questions, Reddy was evasive on whether he would join the BJP. But he maintained that only the BJP was capable of ending the TRS rule in Telangana. He would join any party which would work for benefit of the people of Telangana. However, he had not yet decided to join the BJP, he told a questioner. He firmly believed that only a byelection would ensure development in his constituency.

Rajagopal Reddy declared that he would not be criticising the Congress, despite its reported decision to take action against him. “On what grounds would they initiate action against me? I have been a Congress man all my life and fought for the party when it faced dire situations. But the high command brought a person who had been abusing the Congress and its leaders and made him the chief of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC). He was referring to the appointment of A Revanth Reddy as the TPCC president after he joined the Congress from Telugu Desam.

He maintained that he was resigning to the Assembly to fight against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and after considering the efficacy of the Narendra Modi government. He alleged that his fight was against the family rule, without even making any mention about his brother being a sitting member of parliament from the Congress. He said voters in Munugode constituency would understand his decision and support him as development was confined only to a few constituencies in the State.

He declined to guess whether his brother Venkat Reddy, an MP would also follow suit. “Why don’t you ask him ?” he questioned back. He expressed his anguish over what he termed as a vilification campaign launched against him in social media. He asserted that his company which is handling contracts in Chhattisgarh won the contracts in global bidding and challenged that anyone could verify the documents.