HYDERABAD: K Chandrasekhar Rao would not have risen to become the Chief Minister if K Jana Reddy had assumed the CM’s post before the formation of Telangana State, Senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Shabbir Ali claimed that Jana Reddy was offered the CM’s post during the peak of the Telangana statehood movement. “However, Jana Reddy declined the offer as he feared that it would soften the tone of the agitation and the new State might not become a reality,” he said.

Condemning the CM’s remarks against the Congress’ candidate for the upcoming Nagarjunasagar bypoll, Shabbir Ali said, “CM KCR had no stature to speak about Jana Reddy. It was Jana Reddy who vouched for KCR when no one was ready to trust him during the Telangana agitation. Instead of being thankful to Jana Reddy for helping him in his political career, KCR is shamelessly saying that he would send Jana Reddy to ‘permanent retirement’.”

Shabbir Ali added that Jana Reddy always believed in ethics, morals and value-based politics and KCR’s comments against Jana Reddy was like spitting at the sky. Alleging that TRS government was involved in scams worth over `10,000 crore, Shabbir demanded the Central government to order a probe into the financial irregularities pointed in recent the CAG report.