Two senior Congress leaders, health minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy and former minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy have decided to go on pleasure trips to foreign countries, signalling their displeasure over the selection of party candidates in their respective districts. Dr Ravindra Reddy will visit the US and Canada, while Mr Diwakar Reddy will go to the UK and Australia.
The health minister opted out of taking responsibility for party affairs in the three byelection segments in Kadapa, and even stayed away from the three-day tour of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy in the district. He is not on good terms with the CM after his Cabinet portfolio was split into two, even writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, seeking her permission to quit the Cabinet.
Dr Ravindra Reddy, along with other two ministers C. Ramachandraiah and Syed Ahmadulla, met Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s emissary Vayalar Ravi recently and conveyed his displeasure on the manner of selection of party nominees for the three seats in the district. Sources close to him said none of the nominees proposed by him and the other ministers were taken into consideration. Similarly, Anantapur strongman J.C. Diwakar Reddy was put in an awkward situation after his nominee from the minority community was not chosen from Anantapur.