The president of the Telugu Desam Party N Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday, demanded the resignation of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for "shielding tainted ministers".
Addressing a press conference at his residence in Jubilee Hills, Naidu said that the Chief Minister should have dismissed the ministers whose names had appeared in the chargesheet submitted by the CBI.
However, Naidu alleged that Kiran Kumar Reddy was shielding them, addint that this was evident from the fact that he had refused to allow the prosecution of Roads & Buildings Minister B Dharmana Prasada Rao by the CBI.
Naidu demanded that all tainted ministers resign from their post immediately, thereby reinforcing
similar demand he had madea to the Governor earlier.
Naidu charged the Congress with adopting dual standards with regard to the accused ministers. Referring to the resignation of two Union ministers - Pavan Kumar Bansal and Ashwini Kumar - he said that while the Congress at the Centre was trying to project an image of a "clean" party by removing tainted ministers, it was hesitant to take action in similar cases in Andhra Pradesh.
He asked the Congress leadership to explain why it did not react after Dharmana Prasada Rao and Home Minister P Sabitha Indira Reddy were named as accused by the CBI in the Disproportionate Assets case.
The TDP chief announced that his party would launch a massive protest across the state, demanding the dismissal of the accused ministers from the Cabinet.
Naidu warned that if the ministers were not removed within a week, then the TDP would launch protest rallies in all the Assembly constituencies for three days, starting from May 20. He claimed that all TDP leaders and workers - including MPs, MLAs and MLCs - would participate in the agitation programs. (INN)