Hyderabad: TS Telugu Desam working president A. Revanth Reddy who has reportedly decided to join the Congress was accused of betrayal by his party colleagues on Friday.
The party’s TS unit president L. Ramana had convened a meeting of the politburo and central committee here primarily to discuss the issue of Mr Revanth Reddy leaving the party. Mr Revanth Reddy also decided to attend the meeting.
On spotting him, TD leaders began grilling Mr Revanth Reddy about his plans to join the Congress, meeting AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and accusing AP ministers of getting favours from the TS government.
Mr Revanth Reddy did not respond to them and said, “As working president I am not supposed to be answerable to you. Whatever my decision is, I will explain to the party president (AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu) after he returns from his foreign trip”.
Angered by his response, TD leaders Motkupally Narasimhulu and Aravind Kumar Goud walked out, saying no purpose would be served by staying on. The meeting was abruptly adjourned as no other issue was discussed.
Earlier, there were heated exchanges between Mr Revanth Reddy and Mr Narasimhulu, with the latter asking him on whose authority he had met Mr Gandhi. Mr Revanth Reddy retorted by asking him who had permitted him to talk about an alliance with the TRS.
Mr Narasimhulu, speaking to mediapersons later, said Mr Revanth Reddy was responsible for the plight of the TD unit in the state. “It was because of his involvement in the cash-for-vote scam, because of his mistakes as a leader that 12 TD MLAs deserted the party.”
The 22 per cent vote share of the party had fallen to 7 per cent because of him, Mr Narasimhulu said. “He is a blackmailer and wants to ditch the party. He is a traitor of the TD and he needs to be suspended forthwith,” Mr Narasimhulu said.
Mr Aravind Kumar Goud said there was no point in discussing party strategies in the presence of Mr Revanth Reddy.
