Groupism to the prow in Congress

                                                                    

The groups clearly displayed the conflicting interests of the two leaders much to the embarrassment of Mr. Vasan and Port Chairman Ajeya Kallam. While the two leaders claimed credit for pulling strings at the Union Ministry level to get the compensation proposal cleared for the master list candidates of VPT, Mr. Vasan's acknowledgement of only Ms. Purandeswari's role irked Mr. Reddy's followers.

Sensing trouble, Visakha South MLA Dronamraju Srinivas went up to the podium and announced that the two leaders were important for the city and that this was not a platform for their followers to display their loyalties. One of the master list candidates showered praise on Ms. Purandeswari describing her as a goddess who intervened on their behalf to settle the long-pending issue. He said she alone deserved re-nomination as MP and none else.

Groupism in the Congress came to the fore when two groups in the party - one represented by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari and the other by Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests T. Subbarami Reddy - indulged in a game of one-upmanship at a function organised by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust where Union Minister for Shipping G.K. Vasan distributed cheques to master list candidates on Friday.

The followers of Mr. Subbarami Reddy and Ms. Purandeswari, who occupied seats in the port's Kalavani auditorium as two different blocks, indulged in slogan-shouting in praise of their respective leaders. Followers of Mr. Reddy were seen indulging in slogan-shouting while Ms. Purandeswari spoke and the vice versa happened when Mr. Reddy addressed the gathering.

At a separate press conference organised at his residence later, Mr. Subbarami Reddy said the high command knew who really worked for the people and that “gimmicks and slogan-shouting” cannot influence anyone.

He said he would definitely contest as MP again. His roots in the city were strong and the high command was aware of it, he added.