Chiranjeevi quit angry for Allu Aravind
The volcano on which Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi has been sitting for quite sometime exploded on Thursday with several members of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC) indirectly blaming party general secretary Allu Aravind for the debacle in the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
As soon as the PAC met Thursday morning, senior leaders, including Ch Harirama Jogaiah and P Shiv Shankar, reportedly argued that allegations of ‘ticket sales’ to aspirants had done the party in.
Another leader C Ramachandraiah, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Machilipatnam, wanted the party president to disband the PAC, party state committee and all other affiliated committees and reconstitute them with people known for their integrity and honesty.
Allu Aravind, finding himself at the receiving end, expressed his displeasure at being made a scapegoat for the flop show in polls and reportedly handed over his resignation letter to Chiranjeevi, who after reading it through, put it away in a folder.
Some members wanted even party vice-president Devender Goud to resign. Hurt by their comments, Goud is understood to have said he didn’t care for the position and walked out in a huff. The meeting was convened to find out reasons for winning a paltry 18 Assembly seats and drawing a blank in Lok Sabha polls. Chiranjeevi, who heads the PAC, listened to all but later backed Aravind, who is also his brother-in-law.
‘‘Aravind, in tune with our social justice slogan, played an important role in allotment of tickets to over 100 BCs who were not financially well off. The allegation that tickets were sold to aspirants is baseless. We do not stoop to that level. Some forces seem to be working actively to malign Aravind’s image,’’ Chiranjeevi told reporters here.
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