Take charge for sake of country: Hanumantha Rao asks Rahul to continue as prez

Hyderabad: A day after Telengana Pradesh Congress Committee working president Ponnam Prabhakar quit demanding that Rahul Gandhi continues as party president, AICC secretary V Hanumantha Rao on Saturday said he would also not like to continue in party posts if Gandhi does not listen to requests.

"If you do not listen to our prayers, Sir, I do not want to continue as an AICC office-bearer and will be quitting from all the party posts," Rao, a former MP, said in a letter to Gandhi. "Kindly take charge immediately for the sake of the country," he said.

Ponnam Prabhakar told on Saturday that PCC presidents and other leaders should try to make Gandhi withdraw by resigning from their posts. AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana RC Khuntia said it is the decision of individual leaders to quit their posts.

The Congress in Telangana has passed a resolution requesting Gandhi to withdraw his resignation, he said. "His (Gandhi) resignation will further weaken Congress. So we have passed a unanimous resolution, requesting him to withdraw his resignation," Khuntia said.

Senior Congress leader and former vice-chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Marri Shashidhar Reddy reiterated his appeal to "all state incharges, PCC presidents and CWC members to come forward and resign to give hope to the Congress about its future".

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Shashidhar Reddy had earlier appealed to CWC members and state in charges to submit their resignations to give Gandhi a free hand to undertake a complete overhaul of the party.

Meanwhile, state Congress leaders held a meeting at Nagarjuna Sagar to discuss preparations for the coming municipal polls in the state. Khuntia was present on the occasion.