Hans News Service Hyderabad

Indicatingthat the split in the Telangana unit of the Congress is wide open, Congress MLAs and MLCs on Friday demanded that the party high command must step in and remove Minister Konda Surekha from the Cabinet and expel her from the party as she had failed to condemn the unpalatable remarks made by her daughter, Konda Susmitha, against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Some of the legislators also demanded immediate action against Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy and Telangana State Planning Board Vice-Chairman Dr G Chinna Reddy.

The demand follows recent remarks reportedly made by Susmitha against Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over ticket distribution in the next elections. Following furore within the party, Konda Surekha had appeared before the party disciplinary committee and clarified that she should not be held responsible for her daughter’s remarks, considering that the remarks in question represented Susmitha’s “personal” views.

Reacting to the issue, Government Whips Beerla Ilaiah, Vemula Veeresham, and Venkat Balmoor, along with MLAs Revuri Prakash Reddy, Balu Naik, Chikkudu Vamshi Krishna, B. Manohar Reddy, G. Madhusudhan Reddy, Nayini Rajender Reddy, Gandra Satyanarayana, K. R. Nagaraju, K. Rajesh Reddy, Veerlapalli Shankar, Kumbham Anil Kumar Reddy, Kunduru Jayaveer Reddy, B. Lakshma Reddy, Vedma Bhojju, Mandula Samel, and MLC Baswaraj Saraiah, strongly criticised Surekha. They said that if she had no connection with her daughter’s remarks, she should have publicly condemned them. Government Whip Beerla Ilaiah said criticism from opposition parties was expected, but criticism of the party leadership from within the Congress was unacceptable. He questioned the criticism directed at Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, stating that the Chief Minister had worked hard to bring the Congress to power and had been consistently strengthening the party. Ilaiah demanded that Konda Surekha respond to the remarks made by her daughter and criticised those making allegations against the Chief Minister. Ilaiah said it was unfortunate that “some leaders within the party” were publicly criticising the Chief Minister and stressed the need to maintain discipline and unity within the Congress.

Government Whip Vemula Veeresham said Konda Surekha should have condemned her daughter’s remarks if she was not associated with them. He alleged that Surekha’s statements were causing embarrassment to the Congress party and recalled that she had faced criticism earlier over controversial remarks concerning an actress.