YSR loyalists in cabinet should resign: Shankar Rao

HYDERABAD: Senior minister P Shankar Rao on Saturday demanded that all YSR loyalists in the Kiran Kumar Reddy cabinet should step down as they did not defend Congress president Sonia Gandhi when she came under attack from the Opposition recently.
Speaking to the media at the CLP office here, the minister also charged that the officers in the CMO as well as DGP K Aravinda Rao were not taking seriously the threats he has been receiving to his life ever since the letter he wrote to the chief justice of AP High Court alleging serious irregularities in the APIIC-Emaar scam and amassing of huge wealth by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy were treated as petitions and are being heard by the court.
Shankar Rao later told TOI that there were many in the Kiran cabinet and the administration who were associated with the YSR regime and have a soft corner for his son Jagan. "This is why nobody is defending the Congress high command from the attacks of Jagan and his loyalists," he said.
Earlier, addressing the media, Shankar Rao said the silence of the ministers and other leaders now was in contrast to their actions during the YSR regime when they would stoutly defend any criticism of their chief minister.
"There are many woman ministers in the cabinet such as home minister Sabita Indra Reddy and industries minister J Geeta Reddy. They are also failing in their duty to defend party president Sonia Gandhi, who also happens to be a woman," he said.
Referring to the threatening calls he has been receiving, the minister for handlooms and textiles said the CMO also ignored his plea for an enhanced protection. "I personally met J Satyanarayana, special chief secretary to the chief minister, and explained how my life is in jeopardy after my letters to the CJ. I requested Satyanarayana to convey my sense of insecurity to the chief minister. But there is no action on the ground," he said.
Talking about what he alleged was the callousness of DGP Aravinda Rao, the minister wondered as to why did not the DGP take up the matter suo motu. "I publicly talked about the threat calls on January 24. A DCP came to me on January 28. Why did the DGP fail to take action for almost four days," asked Shankar Rao.
The minister said what could one expect from a DGP who was himself involved in the Telgi case. He said he would reveal everything about the Telgi-Aravind Rao connection at an appropriate time.