Hyderabad:
Senior Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh, G Venkataswamy, who 12 hours ago demanded Sonia Gandhi's resignation as Party President, today said he is ready to withdraw all his comments.
"I had to make those comments because I was worried that the party may suffer in Telangana region. I am ready to withdraw all comments...I request her (Gandhi) for a separate Telangana," he said today.
Congress sources in Delhi had said that Venkataswamy's outburst on Tuesday was provoked by the party's decision to drop him from the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
"If I am expelled, party workers in Telangana would form a new outfit called Telangana Congress," Mr Venkataswamy claimed today.
Venkataswamy's son, Vivek, is a Congress MP and said he does not share his father's criticism of Sonia Gandhi.
Slamming Venkataswamy for his attack on Gandhi, Youth Congress activists met Andhra Pradesh Congress president D Srinivas at his residence here late last night and demanded that disciplinary action be taken against him immediately.
Venkataswamy, a Dalit leader from Telangana region, yesterday alleged that the party is losing its base all over the country and that corruption and inflation have risen under Mrs Gandhi's leadership.
He demanded that she step down from the post of party president and make way for an lndian who has risen from grass roots.
Mr Venkataswamy had also opposed the Congress' attempts to work more closely with actor-politician Chiranjeevi's party, the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP). Mr Chiranjeevi is not in favour of bifurcating Andhra Pradesh to create a new Telangana state.