Resigning Due To Kiran Kumar's Incompetence: Peddireddi

Senior Congress MLA Peddireddi Ramchandra Reddy on Thursday submitted his resignation from the membership of Legislative Assembly in protest against the continuation of Kiran Kumar Reddy on the Chief Minister's post.

Senior Congress MLA Peddireddi Ramchandra Reddy met Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Thursday and handed over his resignation. Talking to reporters later, he described Kiran Kumar Reddy as "totally incompetent and unfit" to be the Chief Minister. He alleged that Kiran Kumar Reddy had stopped all developmental work in Punganur, the constituency that he represented in the House. He said that despite the release of Rs. 32 crores for the construction of a storage tank on Garga River about a year ago, the project was yet to be completed.

Peddireddi alleged that Kiran's brother Kishore Kumar Reddy was "ruling" the Chittoor district as the "shadow" Chief Minister. He said that he could not take up any developmental works in his constituency due to the interference of Chief Minister and his family members. He also alleged that Kiran's brother was encouraging the red sandalwood mafia in the district.

Peddireddy apologised to the voters of his constituency for his inability to bring development and held the Chief Minister responsible for the same.

"I have repeatedly been asking the Congress high command to replace Kiran Kumar Reddy as the Chief Minister since he is totally incompetent to hold the post. But so far the high command did not take any action in this regard. Hence, I have resigned," Peddireddi said. However, he announced that he would stay with the Congress party and work as an ordinary worker.

Admitting that he had been opposing Kiran Kumar Reddy since he had been chosen for the Chief Minister's post, Peddireddy opined that Kiran was "highly corrupt" and lacked administrative experience as he had never held a post in the Chittoor district Congress or PCC, and had never served as a minister.

Peddireddi alleged that Kiran Kumar Reddy was afraid of conducting elections to the local bodies. In this scenario, he wondered how the party would face the general elections in 2014 under his leadership.

It may be mentioned that Peddireddi had set November 30 as deadline for the Congress High Command to replace the Chief Minister. With no indication of a leadership change, and the convening of a special Assembly session from Friday, he tendered his resignation as an MLA on Thursday itself.

Earlier, Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana and other senior leaders tried in vain to convince Peddireddi not to quit from MLA's post. However, Peddireddi remained steadfast and submitted his resignation on Thursday. (INN)