AP Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to skip Congress conclave today |Andhra Pradesh CM to skip Congress Conclave

New Delhi:  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy yesterday scaled up his confrontation with the Congress' central leade...

Please click one of the button below to read Full Story / Video.

New Delhi:  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy yesterday scaled up his confrontation with the Congress' central leadership over their plans to go ahead with the creation of the separate state of Telangana when he decided against travelling to Delhi to attend the high-profile party conclave being held today.

Mr Reddy will be the most notable absentee from the show convened to accord a larger profile to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and his absence is bound to be seen as an open act of defiance by the party's top brass. The Andhra Pradesh chief minister has in the past few months assumed the role of the principal opponent to the Centre's plans to bifurcate his state. 

Union minister of state for roads transport and highways Sarve Satyanarayana, one of the Congress leaders from Telangana, argued that Mr Reddy has been opposing the high command on the Telangana issue and was trying to emerge as the hero in Seemandhra. "He is championing the cause of Seemandhra people. He is against formation of Telangana. By skipping the AICC meet, he is trying to send a signal to the people of Seemandhra," he said.

Wary of troubles from the pro-Andhra leaders, the Congress high command has decided to deny permission to the six rebellious Seemandhra MPs to attend today's conclave. The group - R Sambasiva Rao, Sabbam Hari, V Arun Kumar, A Saiprathap, L Rajagopal and GV Harshakumar - had caused acute embarrassment to the central leadership by initiating the process of moving a no-confidence motion against their own government in the Lok Sabha last month.

The move eventually fell through, but the six MPs have decided to persist with their defiance. They are now planning to sit on dharna outside the venue of the AICC session as a mark of protest against the move to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

Tweet

Sponsored Links