The Telangana Congress suffered a shock today ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Former TPCC chief and former minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah resigned from the party.
Ponnala wrote a letter to the national president of the party Mallikarjuna Kharge announcing his resignation.
In his letter, Ponnala alleged that the party was doing injustice to the BCs in the allotment of tickets.
He also said that it was a matter of shame that the party's BC leaders had gone to Delhi to meet the party high command for tickets. Telangana was a symbol of self-respect, and if a BC leader went around the top leaders of the party by mortgaging his self-respect, the party would lose its prestige, he said.
He added that in 2001, he was the first of 44 Congress MLAs to sign a letter supporting the formation of a separate Telangana State. He also said that he had worked sincerely for the Telangana State from the very beginning. He said that after all that he would not be able to survive by enduring insults in the party.
He signed off saying that he was thanking everyone who had supported him by giving him positions in the party for so long.
Ponnala is said to be upset over not being considered for the Jangaon ticket - there are rumours that Kommuri Pratap Reddy, the DCC chief of Jangaon, will be given the Jangaon ticket.
Ponnala served as irrigation minister in the YSR cabinet. He was the first PCC chief of the Congress after the formation of Telangana State.