Dissident leader demands change of leadership in AP

As Congrees' defeat in the by-election becomes clearer, voices of discontent in the party have started to become louder. Firing the first salvo, a dissident leader and former minister P Shankar Rao has demanded the immediate change of leadership in the state.

In a letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said that the election verdict was not against the Congress itself, but the chief minister and his corrupt ministers.

"The Congress has met this fate because all the weaker sections minorities and intellectuals have deserted the party", he said.

Rao was dropped from the cabinet after his repeated attacks on the chief minister. His Public Interest Litigation was instrumental in the high court, ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry in the disproportionate assets of YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy.