[1]Denying that the forthcoming bypolls would be a referendum on the performance of the Congress government in the state, Union minister Vayalar Ravi on Monday said the overall situation of the party, vis-a-vis the byelections, “is improving” day-by-day.
Talking to mediapersons at the Gandhi Bhavan, Mr Ravi said he would not deny the influence and impact of YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in some of the constituencies going for polls. “The Congress is, of late, posting impressive gains in the constituencies and all the key leaders of the party are working in tandem,” the emissary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi said.
“I cannot give the exact number, but we would definitely win a good number of the seats,” he said, replying to a question. The Union minister termed the claim of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, that the 17 MLAs left the Congress and voted against it in the No Confidence Motion moved by the Telugu Desam, did so for the sake of farmers, as a big joke.
“The MLAs (who rebelled against the Congress and voted in favour of the No Confidence Motion) need to explain why they left the Congress, they not only violated the party discipline but even crossed the Floor for their selfish ends,” Mr Ravi alleged. Defending the probe by the CBI into the Jagan illegal assets case, the Union minister said there wasn’t any interference by the Congress government. He added that the party had no objections if the ministers were quizzed by the CBI on their role in the decisions taken during the rule of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
Referring to the Telangana statehood issue, Mr Ravi said the Centre will announce its decision “very soon”. The Union minister later held a closed-door meeting with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, before leaving for Delhi in the evening.
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