M A I N   N E W S

After bypoll shock, rebellion breaks out in Andhra Cong
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, March 22
A day after receiving drubbing in the byelections, rebellion broke out in the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh with the sulking minister Dr DL Ravindra Reddy quitting the Cabinet “owning moral responsibility” for the poll debacle.

The daggers were out in the ruling party camp with several senior leaders openly demanding the resignation of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC Chief B Satyanarayana for the party’s poor showing at the hustings.

The Congress drew a blank in the bypolls to seven Assembly seats, six of them in the Telangana region. The voters in Telangana delivered an unambiguous verdict in favour of the statehood cause while the fledgling YSR Congress Party, headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, posted an impressive victory in Kovvur in coastal Andhra region.

As the bypoll results left the Congress circles in a state of shock, the pro-Telangana leaders within the ruling party and the known critics of the Chief Minister raised a banner of revolt, blaming his “unilateral and dictatorial style of functioning” responsible for the falling stocks of the party.

The day began on a sour note with the rebel minister Ravindra Reddy, who holds health portfolio, faxing his resignation letter to the party President Sonia Gandhi. He warned that the party would face a total rout in the 2014 Assembly elections if corrective steps were not taken immediately.