Will speak from home if banned from Gandhi Bhavan, nothing wrong in criticising Revanth Reddy: VHR tells NewsTap

HYDERABAD: A day after senior Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leader V Hanumantha Rao (VHR) lashed out against Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for not giving appointment to senior leaders, the former Rajya Sabha MP stood by his comments and said that it is his culture to speak up against anything going wrong within the party.

"I spoke against former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy when he was in power and today I am speaking up against Revanth Reddy. I will continue to speak against injustice being meted out in the party and that is my culture. I also criticised Rahul Gandhi that him roaming on roads in the name of 'Nyaya Yatra' will serve no purpose," said VHR while speaking to NewsTap.

The senior Congress leader was critical that the Chief Minister was not giving appointment to senior leaders like him to highlight the pending cases booked against them by the previous Government for participating in protest programmes.

Also Read: Congress party neglecting seniors, says Hanumanth Rao; asserts he would contest from Khammam Lok Sabha

“Revanth Reddy should look into the matter of pending cases registered by the previous Government against Congress leaders and issue orders for the removal of cases. I have tried around 15 times to book an appointment to meet Revanth Reddy to appraise him on the issue. If he is busy, doesn't he have time to even speak on the phone for two minutes? How long will he give priority to leaders from opposition parties who recently joined the Congress?," VHR questioned.

As soon as the former MP made these comments, reports emerged that the staff in Gandhi Bhavan, headquarters of the party, have been asked to not give live links for press meets of VHR.

Reacting to this news, VHR said, "Who can stop me? If I am not allowed to speak at the Gandhi Bhavan, then I will speak from home. If I don't get invited to the Tukkuguda public meeting next week, I have nothing to loose. I will speak on the road. Wherever, I speak, it will make news."

Everything is not hunky dory for Revanth Reddy within the Telangana Congress camp. Before VHR's outburst, senior vice-president of the party G Niranjan raised a bogey against giving tickets to candidates imported from the BRS.

He said that fielding "imported candidates" would adversely affect the morale of the Congress cadres who have been working for the party for long.

Similarly, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy are reportedly miffed with the party over the delay in finalising the Congress candidate for the Khammam Lok Sabha seat. Bhatti Vikramarka’s wife Nandini, Ponguleti brother Prasad Reddy and Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao’s son Tummala Yugandhar among others have applied for a ticket from the constituency. However, the party high command is yet to come to a consensus, frustrating senior leaders and their cadres.