Hyderabad: As the row over BJP MLA Etala Rajendar’s remark that the Congress had accepted ₹ 25 crore from the BRS during the Munugode bypoll continued to snowball, Congress leaders stood with TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy.
Former government whip E. Anil Kumar questioned Rajendar’s integrity during his tenure as finance minister. He wondered if Rajendar was a BC leader, when his patta passbook identified him as ‘Rajendar Reddy.’
“Don’t you have a role in the irregularities of the BRS government, as you were the finance minister when the projects related to Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya were approved? When you were minister for civil supplies, irregularities in the PDS cropped up. What was your share in the maize scam,” Anil Kumar asked.
PCC general secretary Addanki Dayakar felt that Rajendar made the allegations when some BJP leaders were setting the ground to defect to the Congress and told the MLA that he would lose the election.
State Youth Congress leader K. Shivsena Reddy described Rajendar as “a Reddy in the garb of a leader representing the BC community.” Shivsena Reddy asked why Rajendar was afraid of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao though he claimed he knew the CM’s secrets.
Some city-based leaders were surprised by Revanth Reddy’s emotional outburst. “If a leader like Revanth Reddy who is looked upon as a future CM breaks down, what could be expected of the others? It is shaking our confidence when we are about to face the election,” a ticket aspirant said.
