Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Sarve Satyanarayna was suspended from the party after he used ‘abusive’ language against senior party leaders and entered into a physical fight with another leader at a review meeting of the party’s preparations for the Lok Sabha election.
Mr. Satyanarayana apparently made some caustic remarks against AICC incharge for Telangana R. C. Khuntia, holding him responsible for the party’s defeat and alleging financial misappropriation of party funds in the elections. He also indirectly held TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy responsible for the defeat and questioned how they could conduct review meetings without owning responsibility.
Objecting to the strong words against the leaders, PCC general secretary Bollu Kishan asked Mr. Satyanarayana to explain the reasons for his defeat rather than blaming them. This infuriated Mr. Satyanrayana, who started abusing Mr. Kishan in filthy language in the presence of the all leaders and also hurled a water bottle at him, a senior leader said.
Reacting to the abuse, Mr. Kishan abused Mr. Satyanarayana in similar tone and tenor. As both of them moved menacingly towards each other, former NSUI chief Mahesh Kumar Goud tried to intervene and calm them down. However, both of them pushed each other, shouting, and other leaders pushed them apart. Mr. Satyanarayana then accused Mr. Khuntia of unleashing Mr. Kishan on him and walked out of the meeting hall.
Later, the meeting where AICC secretaries, N. Bose Raju, Saleem Ahmed and N. Sreenivasan were also present, passed a resolution objecting to the behaviour and recommended Mr. Satyanarayana’s suspension. Party sources said the AICC leadership also approved the action.
Mr. Satyanarayana, who recently lost from the Secunderabad Cantonment constituency, later told reporters that people who were responsible for the party’s poor performance were analysing the results and he would bring the issue to the notice of the central leadership.
Mr. Satyanarayana worked as Union Minister of State for Surface Transport in the Manmohan Singh government and lost his Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat to the TDP’s Ch. Malla Reddy in the 2104 election. He had won from Siddipet in 2004 and from Malkajgiri in 2009. He also unsuccessfully contested the Warangal bypoll in 2015.