Minister for Roads and Buildings T Jeevan Reddy on Thursday resigned from his post to contest the Lok Sabha byelection against Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao from Karimnagar constituency.
The bypolls to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats are slated for May 29. Barring two assembly seats, the vacancies in the remaining Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies were caused by the en masse resignation of TRS MPs and MLAs led by KCR.
Jeevan Reddy decided to quit the minister's post following the Congress high command's decision to field him in the Karimnagar bypoll.
Incidentally, before being inducted in to the state cabinet by Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in 2007, he had unsuccessfully contested against KCR in another byelection in Karimnagar in December 2006.
KCR had retained the seat by a majority of over 2 lakh votes.
Jeevan Reddy met the chief minister on Thursday and submitted his resignation. In the letter, he said that he felt it would be moral and ethical for him to tender his resignation and contest the byelection. He thanked Dr Rajasekhar Reddy for giving him an opportunity to serve the state as minister for Roads and Buildings.
"It is a pleasure that you had confidence in me in selecting me as a candidate of the Congress party for the forthcoming byelection from Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency. I hope I will come out with success by the grace of God and your blessings," he said.
Speaking to newsmen, Jeevan Reddy exuded confidence that the ruling Congress would win majority of the seats in the by-election. Terming the TRS leader as a political opportunist who has been "cheating the people of the region in the name of Telangana sentiment," he said he would expose the 'true colors' of KCR during the byelection.
"The people will teach a lesson to KCR this time as the TRS leader has failed to do anything for Karimnagar people during the last four years though he was a Central minister in the United Progressive Alliance government for two years. The Congress will win the election by explaining to the people about developmental activities undertaken by the Dr Rajasekhar Reddy government during the last four years," he added.
He expressed happiness over the Congress high command's decision to field him from Karimnagar once again.
He explained that he had decided to resign the minister's post before filing nomination papers to avoid giving any chance to the opposition to allege that he would 'misuse' the post in the by-election.
He asserted that "Telangana sentiment" had nothing to do with the forthcoming by-election.
