Hyderabad, Jan 1 (IANS) The Congress Friday issued notice to Andhra Pradesh’s Minister for Information Technology K. Venkat Reddy for criticising Chief Minister K. Rosaiah over the Telangana issue.
Party general secretary Janardhan Diwedi issued the notice to the minister for “deliberately damaging the party’s image” by making allegations against Rosaiah.

Party sources said Venkat Reddy has been given seven day time to reply to the notice.

Venkat Reddy, hailing from Telangana region, Thursday accused the chief minister of being partisan on the Telangana issue.

He criticised Rosaiah for claiming that industries were moving to other states because of the agitation in Telangana and that Maoists had infiltrated the movement.

The chief minister had complained to the central leadership against the minister.

Earlier, senior leaders of the Congress party from Telangana region warned Rosaiah that they would not keep quiet if any action was taken against Venkat Reddy.

“We will not keep quiet if any action is taken against Venkat Reddy. Four crore people of Telangana are behind him,” said former minister and legislator R. Damodar Reddy.

He said by refusing to withdraw their resignations, Venkat Reddy and Minister for Higher Education Sridhar Babu had proved that Telangana was more important to them than their posts.

The remaining 11 ministers from the region Thursday withdrew their resignations, expressing satisfaction with the steps taken by the central government to carve out Telangana state.

Refusing to take back his resignation, Venkat Reddy alleged that Rosaiah, who hails from Andhra region, was targeting the Telangana movement by linking it to fears among industrialists and the film industry. He also took objection to the chief minister’s remark that Maoists had infiltrated the movement.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K. Keshava Rao also said he did not find anything objectionable in what Venkat Reddy said.

Keshava Rao criticised Rosaiah for not withdrawing cases against those participating in the Telangana movement despite the announcement by union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Dec 9.

Keshava Rao said it was unbecoming of a chief minister to say that the state governor would take action on every issue. He pointed out that law and order is a state subject and reminded Rosaiah that the state is not under President’s Rule.

Rosaiah has drawn flak from both the opposition and his own party members over E.S.L. Narasimhan, who took over as governor recently, reportedly holding review meetings on the law and order situation.

Another senior Congress leader from Telangana and former minister, Jana Reddy has criticised Rosaiah by terming as “false” his claims that industries were moving out to other states due to the Telangana agitation.