Ponnala Lakshmaiah accuses Congress of ‘always’ insulting BC leaders

Former Congress leader, who recently joined the BRS, PonnalaLakshmaiah on Wednesday said the Congress always insulted BC leaders; this is why three BC leaders, who were PCC chiefs, had deserted the party.

In an informal interaction with the media here, Lakshmaiah said the Congress has a history of insulting BC leaders; this was not limited to the State, but also at national level. He gave examples of three BC leaders who were also PCC presidents.

He questioned that if he was being portrayed as a fool for leaving the party, why the other BC leaders like D Srinivas and K Keshava Rao had left the party. ‘Let people answer why senior-most leaders were leaving the party? The leaders will go wherever they get respect, Lakshmaiah stated. The former minister said what political leaders were talking about now was already done by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao many years back. ‘The other State CMs are talking about caste Census, but they should remember that KCR had done it long back.

He said the CM took up ‘SamagraKutumba Survey’ within three months of taking charge to know details of castes of people and their livelihood across State. This helped him to bring up tailor-made schemes for the poor.’ Lakshmaiah said time has come for people not to forget what the CM has done for them. ‘What Jagan (AP CM) is saying today was done within three months of coming to power by KCR. That itself is the reason for making him the CM’. He said the Congress was dreaming of coming to power; this was not possible. ‘The Congress has been there since 1983 to 2004, but never it got 50 per cent seats. Even during YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime the party could not get 50 per cent seats’.