Kurnool,Nov 3: The acid-tongue former minister and senior Congress leader, Mr Mulinti Mareppa, on Tuesday demanded the party high command to replace the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, Mr D Srinivas, with either a Scheduled Caste (SC) or a Scheduled Tribe(ST) leader.Mr Mareppa, known for frequently making sensational statements, told media persons here that Mr Srinivas was hatching a conspiracy to sideline the Kadapa MP,Mr Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of former chef minister, the late Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. “Mr Srinivas is plotting against Mr Jagan and is creating hurdles in the way of Mr Jagan becoming the chief minister,” Mr Mareppa felt.
The former minister is of the opinion that Mr Srinivas is ruining the Congress party in the State and if he continues at the helm of the party’s affairs the Congress will soon be wiped out of the Andhra Pradesh map. “Hence, he should be immediately removed as the PCC president and either an SC or an ST leader be given the post,” Mr Mareppa said. He,however, did not name any leader to be replaced.In a frontal attack on Mr Srinivas, the former minister said that “it is a well known fact that the PCC chief had sold party tickets to the candidates in the last Assembly polls. He has also worked against the interests of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs),” he remarked.The former minister accused the PCC chief of amassing huge wealth by selling the party tickets to the candidates.He demanded a thorough probe into the assets owned by Mr Srinivas.
Attributing to Mr Srinivas the alliance with the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), that has since been failed, Mr Mareppa said that the proposed Congress-PRP tie-up was aimed at checking the growth of Mr Jagan in politics. “This kind of nasty politics should be stopped forthwith.And, this is possible only of Mr Srinivas is shown the door as the PCC president. He (Mr Srinivas) is dragging the party’s image onto the streets,” he said.The Congress should immediately drop the move to have an alliance with the PRP for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls, he said.