Congress Takes On Telangana Speaker In His Bastion

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that S Madhusudhana Chary had failed both as an MLA and as a Speaker.

He was addressing a massive public meeting in Mogulapally in Bhupalpally constituency on Tuesday night

Reddy said that he was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1999 and had seen several Speakers in the last 20 years in both the TDP and the Congress regimes, but Chary had proved to be the most partial among all.

A person holding the post of Speaker needed to be apolitical and avoid taking sides, and needed to give time and attention to all the members including the opposition MLAs, but Chary had continuously suppressed the voices of the opposition parties, Reddy alleged. He said that Chary had brought utter disrepute to the post.

Reddy also pointed out that while on his way to Bhupalpally he had seen a shopping complex being constructed by the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), and that Chary's name was engraved on the complex.

"Though it is common to name public buildings after reputed personalities after their deaths, for the first time I have seen a building named after a living politician," he said.

While on his way to the meeting venue, the TPCC chief, along with other Congress leaders, visited the residence of a cotton farmer who had committed suicide. The victim, Raghupati Mudiraj in Tirumulgheery village in Bhupalpalli constituency, had taken the extreme step as he was in huge debts after the loss of his crop this season. In the earlier season, he could not get remunerative prices for his chilli crop.

Making a mention about this suicide in his speech, Reddy said that despite being the local MLA Chary did not even meet the family. In fact, no member of the ruling TRS or official visited Raghupati's family at least to convey condolences, he said.

The meeting at Mogulapally was originally scheduled to be held at 6 pm, but a massive rally at Manthani and the visit to the cotton farmer's house led to the Congress leaders reaching the venue only at around 9 pm. Despite the three-hour delay, however, a huge crowd waited patiently at the venue, and the meeting went on till about 11 pm.

The meeting, organised by Gandra Venkataramana Reddy, was also addressed by MLA Revanth Reddy, Seethakka and other leaders.