Dissident Congress MLA from Munugode Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy is still in the consulting mood and had not taken any decision to leave the party so far. There are rumours of his resignation as the legislator may take longer than the expected time.
Former Telangana Congress chief and Nalgonda MP, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC Secretary Ch. Vamshichand Reddy who called on him as the party high command’s emissaries at his residence on Saturday could not extract any promise that he would continue in the party but apparently were given an understanding that resignation as the legislator was yet to be taken.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy reached the MLA’s house early in the morning and held an hour-long meeting trying to pacify him. He had apparently offered him to meet the party leaders in New Delhi and not to take a hasty decision. The dissident MLA told him that he was still consulting the party leaders and the cadre in the constituency and a final decision would come only later.
Mr. Vamshichand Reddy, who met him later, also spent more than 30 minutes with the Congress MLA assuring him that the party doesn’t want to lose him and would be given certain responsibilities to strengthen the party. Later, he told the reporters that Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy was a staunch Congress loyalist and would not leave the party. He said there would be no bypoll in Munugode as he doesn’t see any resignation coming as well.
War on TRS
Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy later announced that he would launch a war on the TRS soon without giving any specific details on whether he would do it announcing his resignation and enforcing a bypoll. He also claimed that he did not discuss the resignation issue during his meeting with Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.
Sources said, Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy, was still confused about whether to resign as the legislator though he was willing to resign from Congress. His consultations with the constituency cadre and the leaders have only further confused him with majority of them discouraging his intention to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A senior leader, wishing anonymity, said he is confused realising that resignation and the consequent bypoll was a huge political risk not only for himself but also for his followers. “He seems to have given a word to the BJP on resignation but is not sure of winning as the BJP candidate. If he was so confident he would have left the Congress long ago,” a senior leader said.
Mr. Raj Gopal Reddy’s repeated statements on the bypoll was also an indication of his low confidence levels of success, leaders claim. He has been taunting the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) to seek his resignation and gain sympathy claiming that a bypoll would be a possibility only if he or people want it and not the TRS. Interestingly, TRS is silently getting ready for the bypoll trying to downplay Mr. Reddy’s rhetoric with out responding to the taunts.
