All eyes on Congress MLA Rajagopal Reddy

Hyderabad: All eyes are now on Congress leader and Munugodu MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy on the occasion of the special session of the Assembly which begins on Thursday. The Congress leaders are eager to see what political line the MLA would take in the sessions.

It may be recalled that Rajagopal Reddy has expressed his desire to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the announcement of the results of Parliament elections. He strongly criticised the Congress and described it as a sinking ship.

However, he has not joined the Saffron Party so far and was also not active in Congress programmes. Recently, he took a U-turn and praised the Congress, raising the eyebrows of political observers.

According to sources, the Assembly session would be the first test of his loyalty towards the Grand Old Party. The Congress leaders want to see whether he attends the Assembly and participates in debates on behalf of the Congress.

The Congress party has served a show cause notice on him and asked him to give explanation on his comments against the TPCC leadership, AICC president Rahul Gandhi and party in-charge general secretary RC Khuntia.

Rajagopal Reddy has submitted his explanation to the disciplinary committee. The committee has forwarded his explanation to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for further action. So far, no action has been initiated against him.

Congress leaders said Rajagopal Reddy did not get permission from the BJP high command to join the party. They said that the BJP was not ready to accept the conditions forwarded by him.

They said the BJP has virtually closed doors on him and he was left with no option than continuing with the Congress. The leaders said the MLA also feared of losing his membership of Assembly in the event of joining the BJP.

The leaders said he would come under disqualification provisions if he joins the BJP and would lose his MLA post if the Speaker takes the decision in favour of disqualification. They said winning the MLA seat again in by election would be tough task for Rajagopal Reddy. So, he has decided to be silent for few more days before taking a decision on his future.

Meanwhile, the Congress would participate in the sessions with the reduced numbers. About 12 MLAs of the party have joined the TRS, bringing down the strength of the party from 19 to 7. TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned to his membership of the house as he has been elected to Lok Sabha. With this the number has gone down to six.

The Congress is left with Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, T Jagga Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, Seehtakka, Podem Veeraiah and K Rajagopal Reddy. The party is the third big party in the Assembly after TRS and MIM.