Congress condemns Naidu's 'Brandy Bhavan' remarks

Government chief whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy on Wednesday took serious note on Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu describing Gandhi Bhavan as 'Brandy Bhavan' during the election campaign.

Talking to media persons at the Congress Legislature Party office, Venkata Ramana Reddy said that Naidu, who learnt political lessons at the Gandhi Bhavan in his earlier days of political career, has no moral right to criticise the Congress party and demanded that he withdraw his comments immediately.   

Venkata Ramana Reddy said that Naidu did not change his attitude despite people of the State rejecting him in general elections in 2004 and 2009.

He also denied the role of Congress party in the CBI freezing accounts of Jagathi Publications owned by Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy. Stating that the CBI has been probing the disproportionate assets case following directions from the High Court, he said that the Congress party no way connected to seizure of Sakshi accounts.

"If it was possible for the Congress to influence the CBI, then Jagan Mohan Reddy could not have conducted Odarpu yatra and he might have been arrested long ago," he said. It is not good for Jagan to target the Congress party instead of facing charges boldly, he said.

Reminding that the CBI freezed the accounts of Ramalinga Raju after Satyam scam, he said that Jagan was unnecessarily politicizing the issue to get mileage in the by-elections. He also took serious note on Sakshi newspaper carrying 'freedom of press murdered in the state' in headlines. He said that the CBI would investigate into large scale flow of investments in Jagathi Publications and the role of management in it and the agency would not target other employees and journalists in the name of investigations.

Venkata Ramana Reddy said that the CLP members meeting has unanimously appealed to those leaders, who speak at CLP office, not to issue statements that could damage the Congress party's image. He appealed to leaders not to misuse the CLP platform for raising controversies against the party and leadership. If the leaders have any issues, Gandra said that the leaders could raise them at party forum instead of going to the media.

The whip said that the MLAs and MLCs would participate in the election campaign to ensure the victory of Congress candidates.

Congress MLAs Sivaramireddy, Ch Lingaiah, Rudraraju Padmaraju and Arepalle Mohan participated in the CLP meeting.