3 ministers on Monday criticised senior Congress leader Palvai Goverdhan for making allegations of corruption in the Jalayagnam Projects, against Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah.
Education Minister Sridhar Babu, Minister for Small Scale Industries D K Aruna and Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Tourism Geetha Reddy on Monday said that it was not right for a senior leader like Govardhan to make allegations against Lakshmaiah in the public domain.
The 3 leaders said that if Govardhan had any doubts over the handling of the Jalayagnam Projects, he should have raised the issue on a suitable forum.
They said that he should have raised the issue before Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas, Chief Minister K Rosaiah, or even before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or the party High Command itself.
Sridhar Babu said that they appealed to senior leaders to desist from making remarks in public and to highlight their complaints in the party fora. He further said that Govardhan could have sought clarification of any doubts he had from Lakshmaiah himself.
The ministers pointed out that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had tried in vain to stop works on the Jalayagnam Projects during former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's rule. They said that the TDP had even approached the High Court in its bid to stop the works.
The three Ministers said that airing differences in public over Jalayagnam would give the TDP leverage and an opportunity to criticise the projects and the government itself.
When asked whether the doubts raised by Palvai Govardhan were not against the party but against a serving minister, the Ministers refused to answer.
filed in:Congress, Development Projects, Infrastructure