Renuka, Ponguleti cross swords at public meeting in Khammam

Kusumanchi (Khammam): Internal bickering in Congress came to the fore at the Jana Avedana Sammelanam meeting here on Thursday. The senior leaders of the Congress expressed displeasure over admission of some rebels into the party.

According to reports, Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdary and Telangana Legislature Party Deputy Leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy had an altercation on the dais in front of the people, who attended the Jana Avedana Sammelanam meeting, and a host of leaders including the AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy and TPCC working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. However, the issue was subsided with the intervention of top leaders.

It is learnt that while Reddy objected to the presence of Yadavalli Krishna on the dais, Chowdary also raised questions over former Minister Vanama Venkateswar Rao sharing the dais. Incidentally, both Vanama and Krishna, who unsuccessfully contested from Kothagudem Assembly seat in 2014, have joined the Congress recently. It is said that these leaders belong to two different factions of the party.

Speaking at the meeting, TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy criticised the Centre and State governments for failing to fulfill their election promises of farm loan waiver and two bedroom houses for the poor.

“The government, which is wasting crores of rupees in the name of redesigning irrigation projects, has no finances to reimburse student tuition fee and waiver farm loans,” Reddy said, questioning the rationale behind Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s move to pay his vow from the exchequer.

He also criticised the TRS government for taking credit for Bhakta Ramadasu irrigation project. The leaders felicitated Vana Jeevi Ramaiah, who recently got Padma Shri award, on the occasion.