The Hindu : PCC chief defends `sacrifice' call

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

PCC chief defends `sacrifice' call

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 8. The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president, D. Srinivas, on Monday defended his call to former MLAs and MPs to get ready for sacrifice in the larger interests of the party.

Asked to comment on the resentment expressed by certain leaders of Telangana over his statement made at Nizamabad in view of the alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Mr. Srinivas told reporters during a transit halt at the airport here that "to gain something big, we should be prepared for sacrifices.''

Mr. Srinivas was mobbed by several aspirants as he landed from Hyderabad by the regular flight to take part in the launching Srikakulam edition of Telugu daily, Vaartha. Ticket-seekers who were present along with their supporters included the PCC general secretary, Sabbam Hari, its secretary, S. Rangaraju, the Gajuwaka Municipal Chairman, Tippala Gurumurthy Reddy, the PCC OBC Cell city chairman, Beesetti Nookeswara Rao, the corporators -- G.V. Ravi Raju, P.L.N. Patnaik and P. Umarani -- and the former MLA, Grandhi Madhavi.

Mr. Srinivas said: "One should remember that whatever we are today, it is because of the party. Hence, just because of our victory, we should not consider the Lok Sabha or Assembly constituency represented by us as our personal fiefdom.''

Mr. Srinivas said the party was not in a hurry to roll out a red carpet welcome to film stars. "Unlike other parties, we are quite comfortable here because of our strength,'' he remarked. On apprehensions expressed by Left leaders over the delay in striking an alliance with them, the PCC chief said that they need not worry as there was a lot of time for entering into an understanding on seat-sharing. Mr. Srinivas said the party was planning to release the lists for Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously.

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Andhra Pradesh