K.C. Venugopal questions Ministers’ meek response to Opposition tirade against CM

AICC General Secretary urges Cabinet Ministers to support Chief Minister against opposition attacks, emphasizes long-term planning and unity.

AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal has expressed his displeasure that Cabinet Ministers were not coming to the rescue of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy when the Opposition parties were targeting the latter.

Mr. Venugopal, who attended the TPCC Political Affairs Committee meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters on Wednesday evening, specifically wanted the Ministers and senior leaders to effectively counter the tirade against the Chief Minister.

His remarks assumes significance in wake of the opposition BRS leadership launching a direct attack on the Chief Minister and the ‘meek’ response from the leaders. When some senior Ministers tried to intervene and give their version, Mr. Venugopal, according to Congress sources, told them that he knew, who all were openly critical of the Opposition parties.

The close to two hour long meeting saw the AICC leader telling party leaders to not only target the BRS but also the BJP. “We have to expose the BJP and its Central rule and its policies. Merely criticising the BRS will not work, leaders have to equally target the BJP,” he said adding that Congress and the government has to devise long term plans and not merely planning for five years. “We need to have a roadmap for the next 20 years and work towards achieving that goal effectively,” he is said to have pointed out.

Mr. Venugopal told the TPCC chief and the Chief Minister to fill up the vacant corporation posts and the PCC executive at the earliest. “We have to recognise the services of the cadre and reward them for their loyalty and commitment towards the party,” he is believed to have remarked. He specifically wanted the posts and executive to be constituted within 15 days.

The AICC General Secretary said the PAC should meet at least once in a month. Stating that the government’s welfare and developmental programmes have to be sincerely implemented with transparency, he said the elected representatives, Ministers and the rank and file have to work unitedly.

It is understood that he also made an oblique reference to the growing distance between the Ministers and the MLAs and the cadres and legislators. He cautioned the leaders not to give any scope for such gap between the partymen.