Show-cause notice to Jaleel

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president M Satyanarayana Rao issued a show-cause notice on Monday to Vijayawada west MLA and PCC secretary Jaleel Khan in the backdrop of the election of the latter’s associate Vengala Srinivasa Rao as the chairman of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) standing committee in total defiance of the party whip.
It may be recalled that Vengala Srinivasa Rao was elected chairman of the standing committee with the support of two other Congress members, Sampara Rammohan Rao and P Easwaramma, though the PCC chief issued a whip in favour of Valluri Srinivas.
There was none to support Valluri in the standing committee though the mandate from the PCC was in his favour. Jaleel stage-managed the entire election process and ensured victory of his close associate Srinivasa Rao.
The standing committee election clearly exposed the cracks in the Congress party in the VMC Council as the corporators were divided into Upendra, Jaleel and Devineni Nehru groups.
Both Jaleel and Nehru groups sail together in the Council while the other group is left alone.
This has badly affected the party performance in the Council and often landed the Congress in embarrassing positions.
The election to the standing committee chairman post, however, worsened the party affairs further with the group owing allegiance to Upendra threatening to quit the corporator posts if disciplinary action was not initiated against the Jaleel Khan group.
Against this backdrop, the PCC president issued a show-cause notice to Jaleel asking him to explain the reasons for the defiance of whip.
Rao also reportedly took exception to the manner in which Jaleel and his group went public through the media.