Maganti Venkateswara Rao, who submitted his resignation as Minister for Minor Irrigation on Friday night, said that he took the step on a direction from Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Mr. Rao whose resignation after the drubbing received by the Congress in the ZPTC byelections in Denduluru, said he contemplated to put in his papers owning moral responsibility when the Chief Minister asked him to step down.
“My decision and his (Dr. Reddy’s) directive are just a coincidence,” he said refusing to comment on the speed with which his resignation was accepted.
The MLA told The Hindu that he was planning to quit from his Assembly membership, but would take a final decision after consulting his followers. Mr. Rao attributed the defeat of the Congress partly to the government as Denduluru ZPTC comprised Kolleru villages where implementation of rehabilitation package for fishermen displaced after dismantling of the fish ponds as part of Operation Kolleru was delayed. And, the affected families voted against the Congress.
‘Kammas distanced’
He was supportive of the view that the Congress government had distanced the Kamma community to which he belonged. “I represented the issue to the Chief Minister some time ago with a request to give due representation for Kammas,” he said.
Rivalries
Mr. Rao highlighted the need for reining in group rivalries at the district level. “Take our (West Godavari) district for instance, a section of MLAs who enjoy direct access to the Chief Minister are running a parallel show and this is likely to impact the party’s prospects in the coming elections.”
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