HYDERABAD: APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana on Saturday said the Congress would soon finalise the names of the contestants for the byelections in the state. Speaking to mediapersons in Delhi, the PCC president said the party was very keen on taking action against the MLAs who defied the whip and voted against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government during the no-confidence motion in the Assembly on December 5.“We have already made a representation to the speaker urging him to disqualify all the 16 MLAs. The proceedings against the MLA who defied the party whip, will begin soon,” Satyanarayana said.The PCC chief said before initiating action against the MLAs, he discussed the matter with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. Later, he presented the facts before the party high command, which gave them the green signal to initiate measures for disqualification of the MLAs.“Disqualification proceedings will also be initiated against the MLCs as well for aligning with another party after being elected to the council on Congress ticket,” he said.The PCC president made it clear that the Congress was not afraid of facing bypolls. “In the elections, we will field our candidates. It is not proper to infer that just because the prospects appear bleak, a party does not field its candidates. Take for example, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu. He lost two general elections, but still he is going round the state wooing farmers in the hope that they will elect him in the next elections,” he said.Asked how many seats would the Congress win in the bypolls, the PCC president said its performance would be definitely better.“It gives us an opportunity to assess our strength and take remedial measures to make us stronger to face future electoral challenges,” he said, implying that the Congress might not have a smooth sailing in Telangana and coastal Andhra.He said after his return to Hyderabad, he would concentrate on revamping the PCC and appointing presidents to the District Congress Committees for which he obtained green signal from the party high command on Thursday.Satyanarayana dismissed as baseless the reports that he had serious differences with the chief minister.“It is all speculation. In fact before I came to Delhi, I told Kiran Kumar Reddy about my programme,” he said, adding that just because he was raising issues of public importance with the chief minister, it is being construed that he was targeting him.“It is in my nature to find out what a scheme is all about and ask the officials how they are implementing it. I do not see anything wrong in asking the officials about the programmes. It is definitely wrong if I do not ask them,” he said.The PCC president dismissed as a figment of imagination the report that he orchestrated a ‘mini rebellion’ of the PRP hours before voting on no-confidence motion in the Assembly on December 5 so that he could project himself as troubleshooter for the Congress high command.“I did not know anything about the heartburning of the PRP MLAs till Chiranjeevi told me,” he said, adding that for the help the erstwhile PRP president had rendered to the Congress, the party would reward him with a good position.To another question, he said the Congress would come up with a solution to the Telangana issue even if there was no consensus on it and it would happen soon.
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