New Delhi:
No offence may have been meant to Sonia Gandhi, but it was certainly taken by the Congress. Four party members in Andhra Pradesh have been suspended for tearing down posters with Sonia Gandhi's pictures.
The protest was supposedly organized by local supporters of Jagan Mohan Reddy, the son of former Chief Minister YSR Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash last month.
"The cadres' intention was to spoil Renuka Chowdhury's poster and in that process Sonia madam's poster was also somewhat disturbed," defends Ambati Rambabu, a state leader.
So why is Chowdhury in their bad books? Last week, she publicly commented that the current Chief Minister, K Rosaiah, is competent, and therefore there's no vacancy for the Chief Minister's office.
That has upset Jagan Reddy's camp, which has been pushing for him to be named his father's successor. But Congress leaders are warning them to back off. "What is this? Why are the people doing this? All this will be minus to Jagan," says V Hanumantha, General Secretary of the Congress.
In Delhi, party sources say senior leaders have not yet decided what role to offer Jagan Mohan Reddy, currently serving his first term as Member of Parliament.