Telangana election 2018: Richest TRS MP quits party, says ‘feel no longer needed’
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the richest MP from Telangana with declared assets of over Rs 528 crore, is the son-in-law of Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Pratap C Reddy and his wife is Sangita Reddy, managing director of Apollo Hospitals.
telangana elections Updated: Nov 20, 2018 19:26 ISTIn a big jolt to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ahead of the December 7 assembly elections, its parliamentarian Konda Vishweshwar Reddy on Tuesday resigned from the party.
Reddy, the richest MP from Telangana with declared assets of over Rs 528 crore, represents Chevella parliamentary constituency in Ranga Reddy district, closer to Hyderabad. He is the son-in-law of Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Pratap C Reddy and his wife is Sangita Reddy, managing director of Apollo Hospitals.
Reddy announced that he was also quitting his Lok Sabha membership. It is not immediately known whether the MP has any plans to join the Congress or any other party in the coming days. He has been keeping away from party’s electioneering in the assembly segments falling under Chevella parliamentary constituency.
In his three-page letter addressed to TRS president and caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Reddy alleged that the party was getting distanced more and more from the people which it had once represented and the government was becoming inaccessible to the people.
He regretted that the chief minister had inducted people who were against Telangana and the ideology into the cabinet and given them more power and prominence. “I feel people who had fought for Telangana and shared a common ideology, including me, are no longer needed in the party,” he said.
The MP said he was powerless within the party, but he could not speak out or take action as he was bound by the party discipline.
Reddy is said to be upset with the TRS leadership for allegedly sidelining him and giving more importance to transport minister P Mahendar Reddy who hails from the same district.
Another TRS MP, Sitaram Naik from Mahbubabad, is also learnt to be unhappy with the TRS encouraging an IPS officer Lakshman Naik and planning to deny him the seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Both Reddy and Naik denied rumours of their quitting the party last week, but now, Reddy put in his papers in a surprise move.
First Published: Nov 20, 2018 18:50 IST