Senior Congress leader from Rayalaseema and former Minister J C Diwakar Reddy has said he was prepared to leave the party to “protect the interests of his followers” in Anantapur district.
His assessment is that Congress is on the deathbed and will vanish from the scene across the country in the 2014 elections.
“The way Congress was routed in the Assembly elections in the four states including Delhi, is a clear indication that it is on the way out,” JC said.
He has already set off ripples in Congress circles by demanding resignation of the party president Sonia Gandhi owning moral responsibility for the party’s electoral drubbing.
On Tuesday, a war of words has intensified between him and the PCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana. They hurled charges against each other.
While Botsa said he had recommended expulsion of Diwakar Reddy from the party, the former Minister hit back, saying it was Botsa who should be sent out first before anybody else.
Taking a serious note of JC’s demand for Sonia’s resignation, the PCC president wrote to the high command, seeking his expulsion from the party.
Botsa termed Diwakar’s remarks as arrogant and said he was free to leave the party if he wished so.
“No one will stop him (Diwakar Reddy) if he wants to leave the party,” the PCC Chief said adding that it would be wrong if someone hopes to rise in the ranks by criticising the top leadership.
In a counter-attack, JC said “The PCC president must be expelled from the party for signing the letter opposing the Congress Working Committee’s decision to bifurcate the state.”
He dared the PCC chief to expel him and reminded him that several Union Ministers and the Seemandhra and Telangana MPs had criticized the Centre and Congress high command several times in the past.
