Hyderabad: In a display of determined action to crush rebellion, the state Congress has expelled 24 leaders from the party for the period of six years for contesting as rebels against official candidates and for working against them.
Among those expelled is former minister Boda Janardhan who is contesting from Chennur as a Bahujan Left Front candidate. He had attempted to form a rebels front.
TPCC disciplinary committee chairman M. Kodanda Reddy in a press note on Saturday said 19 leaders were expelled from the party for six years for contesting against the Congress and its allies. The expulsion will come into force immediately.
Apart from Mr Janardhan, the expelled leaders are Ravi Srinivas (Sirpur), Hari Naik (Khanapur), Anil Jadhav (Boath), Narayan Rao Patel (Mudhole), Aruna Thara (Jukkal), N. Ratnakar (Nizamabad-Urban), Ganesh (Secunderabad Cantonment), K. Shiva Kumar Reddy (Narayanpet).
The party also expelled Ibrahim and Surendar Reddy (both Mahbubnagar), Kethavath Billiya Naik (Devarakonda), Palvai Shravan Kumar Reddy (Munugodu), Ravi Kumar (Tungaturthy), Malavath Nehru Naik (Dornakal), Ooke Abbaiah (Yellendu), Yedavalli Krishna (Kothagudem) and Ramulu Naik (Wyra).
Mr Kodanda Reddy said five more functionaries were expelled from the party for six years for working against the official candidate in Narayanpet.
These leaders are Chittem Abhijay Reddy, Kavali Narahari, Sai Reddy, Niranjan Reddy and Soubhagya Laxmi. Their expulsions will also come into force immediately.
The party had attempted to pacify the rebels by deploying senior leaders to talk with them to withdraw from the contest and support the officials. Some rebels stood firm, resulting in their expulsion.
