Congress leaders condemn Vivekas remarks

HYDERABAD: Congress leaders on Friday condemned former minister and late YSR’s brother YS Vivekananda Reddy’s remarks against the ongoing CBI probe into Jagan’s illegal assets case. They described CBI joint director VV Lakshminarayana as an honest and sincere officer who ensured bringing logical conclusions to the cases he took up. It was not any Congress leader but they themselves (YSR’s family members and Jagan’s followers) who were calling YSR a thief, they said and predicted that Vivekananda Reddy might quit the Congress soon.Talking to newsmen at the Congress legislature party office here, textiles minister P Shankar Rao remarked that the CBI probe into illegal assets case involving Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy was no less serious than the one into the 2G spectrum scam. The CBI joint director was probing the case in accordance with the directions issued by the  High Court and not at the behest of the Congress. It was very wrong on the part of Vivekananda Reddy to criticise the CBI officer.  Rao also criticised Reddy for claiming that he would have a “YSR group” within the Congress.  All those in the Congress were united and there were no groups in the party, he said, adding that all those who had left the Congress in the past became zeroes.“Both Rajasekhara Reddy and Vivekananda Reddy got posts like chief minister, PCC president, MP and MLC only on account of being loyal to the party high command. YSR had never defied the high command. All the 26 party MLAs who resigned from the Assembly for Jagan’s sake will definitely come back to the Congress,” the minister, whose petition to the High Court led to the CBI probe against Jagan, remarked. Asked whether the party felt that Vivekananda Reddy was acting as a ‘covert’ of YSR Congress, he remarked “blood is thicker than water”. Health minister DL Ravindra Reddy too termed Vivekananda’s remarks as unfortunate. In fact, it was the YSR’s family members who were resorting to mudslinging on the departed leader by indulging in false propaganda, he said. Replying to a query, he said it was for Vivekananda Reddy to decide on staying in the Congress or not. The  CBI probe was not into the properties of YSR but into alleged illegal assets of Jagan, Ravindra Reddy explained.G Venkata Ramana Reddy, MLA, and R Padma Raju, MLC, brushed aside  Vivekananda’s allegation that the Congress and TDP colluded for the CBI inquiry against Jagan to take place.