Former Minister T. Jeevan Reddy quits Congress ending his 42-year-old association, slams Chief Minister Revanth Reddy

Emotions ran high when senior Congress leader and former Minister T. Jeevan Reddy resigned from the Congress expressing his anguish over the ‘insults and humiliation’ meted out to him and the loyal party cadres in the last 20 months at the behest of the ‘defectors’ from other parties.

He decried the ‘dominance’ of the ‘turncoats’ in the internal party affairs accusing the new entrants of sidelining the original party functionaries and calling the shots in party matters under the Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy-led Congress rule in Telangana.

Wearing a green scarf symbolising the farmers’ cause, the 73-year-old senior leader showed his resignation letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to his followers at a meeting held in Jagtial town on Wednesday afternoon.

A host of staunch followers of Mr. Reddy, including several Congress cadres from various parts of Jagtial district raised their hands expressing their solidarity with Mr. Reddy, who parted ways with the Congress ending his nearly 42-year-old association with the grand old party.

The sulking septuagenarian beamoned that senior Congress functionary M. Ganga Reddy was brutally murdered in Jabithapur village in October 2024.

The gruesome murder sparked public outrage and sent shockwaves among the Congress cadres across Jagtial district, he pointed out, alleging that Mr. Revanth Reddy did not console the family members of the deceased.

In an oblique reference to Jagtial MLA M. Sanjay Kumar, Mr. Reddy wondered how a legislator from another party (BRS) was involved in a meeting convened to discuss the local body election strategy at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad recently.

Senior Congress leader T. Jeevan Reddy shows his resignation letter to his followers at a meeting held in Jagtial on Wednesday.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

“This happened at a time when disqualification petitions were filed against some of the BRS MLAs on charges of defecting to the ruling Congress. This ran contrary to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Jai Bheem – Jai Samvidhan’ campaign,” he said.

He deplored that his earlier letter to the party high command in 2024 over the grave injustices being meted out to the loyal party functionaries did not evoke the desired response.

He said, “I had amplified the voices of people as an MLA and MLC while in the Opposition and always stood by people and the party cadres of Jagtial district. I will continue my dharma poratam (fight for righteous cause) to espouse the cause of people.”

“If God willing, I will strive to contribute my mite to further develop Jagtial as a role-model for the entire country,” Mr. Reddy said without disclosing his next political move.