‘Money impact’: Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy quits Congress after 40 years

HYDERABAD: A day before AICC president Rahul Gandhi hits the campaign trail in Telangana, the party suffered another setback with one of its senior leaders and former MLC,

Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy

, quitting Congress and joining BJP.


Sudhakar Reddy wields considerable influence in Khammam, where former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury is contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

The former MLC met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday and announced his decision of joining BJP. Sudhakar Reddy, an ex-secretary of AICC, in his resignation letter addressed to Rahul Gandhi said: “I was politically born in Congress and worked in various wings of the party for the past 40 years. But this kind of commercialisation of ticket allocation in Congress forced me to consider leaving the party and I am rendering my resignation from primary membership of the party (sic).”

He charged that traditions and values of the Congress had changed contrary to its principles. “Money influence affected allocation of tickets in Telangana Assembly election in 2018, MLC election and also the coming Lok Sabha election. It is shocking to find that crores of rupees are being sought for allocation of tickets,” he said. “I tried my best to convey the facts, but the high command is not receptive due to middlemen,” Sudhakar Reddy added.