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Andhra Pradesh
Former CLP secretary seeks high command intervention
By Our Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD
FEB. 1
. The former CLP secretary, M. Kodanda Reddy, has described the complaints of anti-party activity against him as "orchestrated and manipulated with a design to malign him'' and urged the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to institute an enquiry into the matter.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Mr. Reddy said he had not yet received the show cause notice said to have been issued by the APCC president, M. Satyanarayana Rao. He would send a detailed reply to all the allegations levelled against him. But he would like the party president to depute a senior leader from Delhi to probe the matter to avoid further damage to the party by the "conspirators''. He said that as former CLP secretrary was elected twice to the Assembly from Musheerabad, he should have been consulted in the selection of candidates for municipal divisions in the MCH polls.
On being sidelined by the PCC leadership, he resorted to a peaceful dharna in Gandhi Bhavan but the injustice done to the party activists was not rectified. He had only pleaded that the names suggested by the observers be accommodated. But the PCC leadership gave weightage to Baquer Hussain who contested against him as a rebal candidate in 1999 Assembly election. He denied the charge that he had not actively campaigned for the party success in Musheerabad constituency and contended that the party leadership, which was responsible for candidates' selection, should take the responsibility for the poor results. On his Delhi visit, he met Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and the AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni, and explained the state of affairs in the party. The Central leaders advised him to observe restraint. He would not do anything that would damage the image of the party. He had not spoken anything derogatory against the PCC president, he asserted.
Dharna
A group of party activists led by T. Nirajan, who unsuccessfully contested as corporator, staged a dharna at Gandhi Bhavan demanding disciplinary action against Mr. Kodanda Reddy. They squatted at the entrance of the party office and continued their protest for well over an hour. When the PCC president arrived at Gandhi Bhavan, they raised slogans against Mr. Kodanda Reddy and his followers. They wanted his expulsion from the party for sabotaging the party's electoral prospects.
Later, the group moved over to Press Club premises where Mr. Kodanda Reddy was scheduled to address a press conference and raised protest slogans. When journalists objected to the ruckus on their premises, the Congress activists dispersed.
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