Former Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council C. Ramachandraiah on Saturday resigned from the Congress to register his protest against the party’s decision to work with the TDP without taking the Andhra Pradesh Congress Party (PCC) into confidence.
Addressing the media in Kadapa, he wondered why the Congress should “bear the burden of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s sins”. Mr. Naidu was caught red-handed in the ‘vote for note’ case, he said.
The senior leader said he could not forget the words Mr. Naidu uttered against the Congress and its leaders on many occasions. As a party activist he questioned the tie- up, he said.
Later Mr. Ramachandraiah told The Hindu that he had sent his resignation protesting against the “inconsistency in the Congress party polices”. It fought the Marxists in Kerala and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal but now was trying to align with them again.
People who were now calling themselves “champions of democracy” earlier charged the Congress with being the main reason for Andhra Pradesh’s bankruptcy. They made personal attacks against its leaders. “How can one reconcile to that,” he asked.
A chartered accountant by profession, Mr. Ramchandraiah joined the TDP when N T Rama Rao was its president and became a Minister in 1986. He quit the TDP in 2008 and joined the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) founded by Chiranjeevi and held a key position. He joined the Congress party when Mr. Chiranjeevi merged the PRP with the national party and was given a berth in the Cabinet.
