Post date: Apr 14, 2011 8:20:33 PM
The Jagan group on Sunday scoffed at the claims by the Congress that the welfare schemes launched by former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy belonged to the party alone since they were mentioned in the election manifesto.
Talking to INN, Adilabad district In-Charge of YSR Congress Party and former MLC HA Rahman expressed incredulity over the Congress leaders’ claims. Mr Rahman wondered if this was the true, then why were schemes such as Arogyasri, which have won acclaim not only from across the country but also from foreign countries, were not part of the Congress manifestos in other states.
Mr Rahman further said that it was shocking to note that while Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy was alive, all the Ministers who are presently in the Cabinet had heaped praises at him for launching the schemes. These Ministers were now claiming that the schemes belonged to the Congress and were trying to sideline the selfless work carried out by the former chief minister.
“These Congress leaders, while trying to ridicule Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, are even willing to discredit YSR. They will stop at nothing to project themselves as being subservient to the party High Command,” Mr Rahman said.
YSR Congress Party In-Charge of Mahabubnagar district Gattu Ramchander echoed Mr Rahman’s word and added that the Congress leaders in the state, with some exceptions, were scared and jealous of Mr Jaganmohan Reddy who they saw as a threat to their own political future.
Pointing out to the erratic behaviour of Textiles and Handlooms Minister P Shankar Rao, Mr Rahman said that he was like a ‘French Poodle in the arms of an Italian Lady’. The poodle will cosy up to the Italian lady in order to be pampered and taken care of and this is precisely what was happening.
“The poodle, safe in the arms of its master, will snipe at others or even hit its juniors,” Mr Ramchander stated, in an obvious reference to the reports that the Minister had punched his PA on the nose recenctly.
“But such Congress leaders, who had expressed their unstinted support and loyalty to former chief minister YSR during his lifetime, are now feeling safe in the arms of the High Command and were trying to discredit YSR himself by claiming that the welfare schemes belonged to the Congress,” they said.
“Claiming to be the political heirs of YSR is easy, but what have the Congress done since he passed away except struggle to escape from public wrath and internal dissension?” added Mr Ramchander.
He said that when Mr Jaganmohan Reddy had tried to live up to the promise he had made to console the people who had died of shock or committed suicide in the aftermath of YSR’s death, the Congress High Command stood in his way.
“Is this how the High Command leads? When someone is trying to fulfil his promise of a noble cause, the High Command sees it as dissension and sidelines that person. Before YSR died, he had worked hard to fulfil the promises he had made to the people and this is evident by the schemes he had introduced. But somehow the Congress is not interested in keeping promises, nor is it interested in allowing its members to keep their promises. This was the reason behind Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s decision to leave the party. All he wanted to do is to keep his word,” lashed out Mr Rahman.
The YSR Congress Party leaders expressed confidence that the people of Kadapa will see through the Congress and re-elect Mr Jaganmohan Reddy with a thumping majority.
“The day is not far off when the people of the entire state will rise up against the Congress rule and usher in a new era of welfare and development under Mr Jaganmohan Reddy,” Mr Ramchander stated.