Congress leaders divided on caste lines
HYDERABAD: The rift among Seemandhra Congress leaders along caste lines is coming to the fore gradually.
Days after minister Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao, a Dalit and sympathiser of the Telangana movement, attacked chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, who is a BC, fired salvos indirectly at Kiran and Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal using the caste card.
Botcha, who is in favour of state bifurcation, said on Saturday that some leaders of his party are trying to tarnish his image.
Following attacks on his properties in his home town Vizianagaram by the Samaikyandhra activists, the PCC chief, while addressing mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan, said though he is from a backward caste, he managed to climb up the political ladder against all odds.
'None of my forefathers were politicians. I have come from an ordinary family, that too from a backward region and was able to become the PCC president with the blessings of AICC supremo madam Sonia Gandhi. But those leaders who hail from sections which constitute just 5 percent of the state population want to keep political power only with them.'
Botcha claimed that the moment the CWC decided to bifurcate AP, he asked his peers from Seemandhra to resign from their posts in order to prevent the taking being taken forward. But, none of them paid any heed to his advice.
PCC Chief disapproved of attacks on his firms in Vizianagaram district and urged the people to maintain restraint.
Interestingly, on the same day, even Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi, who is a Dalit, made it clear that she was for bifurcation of AP.
There is a clear split along caste lines among the Seemandhra Congress leaders. The PCC chief and ministers like Dokka believe that division of AP will help the weaker sections get political power.
Of the nine Union ministers from Seemandhra, SC and ST ministers V Kishore Chandra Deo, JD Seelam and Panabaka Lakshmi are for bifurcation. They made it clear several times to abide by their party's decision.
News Posted: 6 October, 2013
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