Venkat Reddy says Congress prospects in Munugode not bright

“The party cannot spend as much money as the TRS and the BJP are splurging. Without money, the party will not be able to make any impact on the voters,” he said.

Missing in action

Venkat Reddy, who was billed as the star campaigner for the Congress, has been keeping away from canvassing as he does not see eye to eye with TPCC president A Revanth Reddy.

He is of the opinion that Revanth Reddy bribed party honchos and cornered the post of the PCC president. They have been at loggerheads ever since, hurling abuses at each other openly and sometimes indirectly.

It has long been suspected that Venkat Reddy was lending support to his brother Rajagopal Reddy, who left the Congress and his Assembly membership and is now in the fray in Munugode on a BJP ticket.

That suspicion gained legs on Friday, 21 October, with an audio clip appearing on social media in which Venkat Reddy was heard asking a Congress leader to support Rajagopal.

Now, Venkat Reddy is holidaying in Australia at a time when the Congress is facing a litmus test in Munugode, with the TRS and the BJP having already stolen a march over the grand old party in campaigning.

His loyalty to the party is also coming under the scanner as he has played the vanishing trick on the eve of the visit of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana, though he extended solidarity with the party leader when he was in Kerala by going there.

Revanth Reddy hits back

On Friday, Revanth Reddy, in an indirect reference to Venkat Reddy, told reporters that there was a conspiracy going on in the party to oust him from the TPCC president’s post.

He added that an attempt was going on to sabotage the election of Palvai Sravanthi in Munugode, and when she loses, the conspirators are planning to project him as the PCC president under whose supervision the party has lost all the by-elections held thus far.

Venkat Reddy’s comments on the leaked audio clip, that he would become the PCC chief soon, apparently riled Revanth Reddy, and when he was attacking his opponents, his eyes filled with tears at one stage, indicating that he was fighting a desperate battle to stay afloat in the party.

Meanwhile, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy’s detractors have lodged a complaint with newly elected AICC president Mallikharjun Kharge, giving an account of the alleged anti-party activities that he has resorted to.

Now that the short clip has appeared, in which he is seen claiming that the party may not be able to make much impact in Munugode, it remains to be seen what action the new Congress president initiates against Venkat Reddy.