Criminal action against Rajagopal demanded

New Delhi: Coming down heavily on expelled Congress MP Lagadpati Rajagopal for the pepper spray in Parliament, Telangana Congress MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy on Friday demanded that criminal action should be initiated against him for attempt to murder.

The Telangana Congress MPs’ media interaction was attended, apart from Gutta Sukhender Reddy, by Ponnam Prabhakar, S Rajaiah, Anjan Kumar Yadav and K Rajgopal Reddy.

Sharply reacting to the rebel Congress leader, Gutta Sukhender Reddy said Lagadpati Rajagopal should be taken into custody and even debarred from contesting elections. It could have disastrous effects on people with respiratory and other ailments.

The use of spray was with the intent of harming the MPs, he said.

Sukhender Reddy also asked why TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu did not condemn M Venugopal Reddy, who brought a knife to Parliament. Rejecting the charge of Chandrababu Naidu that the Congress was indulging in double-speak, he asserted that the Congress had pursued a very clear policy on Telangana.

The Congress took the decision on creation of Telangana only after obtaining firm commitment of all political parties to support the Telangana demand. After the decision of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on July 30, 2013, the Congress never looked back and each and every step taken by it was towards implementing it, he said.

The BJP must live up to its word and the commitment it had made publicly by supporting the Telangana Bill. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and NDA Working Chairman L K Advani spoke in one vein, while BJP President Rajnath Singh tried to restate the party position.

Such double-speak was causing doubts in the minds of the people about the real stand real intentions of the BJP, he said.

At his luncheon meeting with BJP top leaders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to elicit their views and accommodate their viewpoint. But the BJP was not really forthcoming, he said.