Hyderabad: Telangana IT and Industries minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Sunday thanked the public of Munugode for voting for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the constituency’s by-election.
He also thanked the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders K Sambashiva Rao, T Veerabhadra, P Venkat Reddy, J Ranga Reddy and the zilla workers and members of the party.
In 2018 after the elections, the by elections in Nalgonda in Huzurnagar, Nagarjuna Sagar and Munugode were won by TRS leaders.
“We are very grateful to the public of Nalgonda for instilling their faith in us,” said KTR. “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the elections because of their arrogance. There is no death in politics, only death by suicide and that is what BJP has done,” he added.
“Nine states were affected adversely by the BJP’s arrogance. They even tried to do the same in Telangana. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were involved in this, it is well known,” he said.
KTR added that TRS should have ideally secured more votes in the by-elections. But they (BJP in Delhi) used over Rs 100 crores, alcohol to buy votes. They stifled the voices of the public. Even crores of rupees were found with Karimnagar corporator’s husband Soppari Venu. Eatala Rajender’s assistant, Kadari Srinivas was found to be in possession of Rs 90 lakhs. Isn’t it true that police found and seized the money? What about the Hawala money seized by Telangana cops from a man named Vivek?” he asked.
These elections witnessed the transfer of Rs 75 crores from Eatala’s company. This happened right after he shifted from TRS to BJP. Rajagopal Reddy was found to have Rs 25 crore. Komatireddy’s company Sushee Infra and Mining Limited Rs 5 crores 25 lakh rupees, were found to be given to Munugode public and BJP leaders. This is all documented proof. The way they duped and insulted the public is unbelivable,” he added.
KTR also said, “The CRPF force of 15 companies, 40 IT Teams were recruited across seven Mandals for this purpose (Munugode by poll). They didn’t succeed in defeating us but they hindered us from achieving a majority in Munugode. There were many by-elections in Telangana since its formation: Be it Dubbaka, Huzurnagar or Nagarjuna. Why was there only corruption in Munugode and Huzurabad? It is only because of these two BJP leaders that black money became an issue.”
“It is not like TRS hasn’t lost elections, we have. But we have always accepted the mandate of the public. Our candidate K Prabhakar Reddy (TRS candidate for Munugode) got 10,000 votes more than the other candidates. Isn’t it a slap in the face that BJP’s candidate lost? In Munugode voter turn out has increased by 9% and our candidate has triumphed despite all hurdles,” he said.
Lashing out at the BJP, “We could also bring up the loss of majority. How the brokers from Delhi said they can handle even the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the horrible way they tried to subvert the elections but we choose to focus on our work instead of bringing it up as an Election issue.”
He added, “Our MLC, Zilla Parishad chairman and 13 TRS workers were beaten up until they bled and then claimed to be the victims. This was done a day before polling at 1 in the night. Then Eatala conducted a press meet for sympathies. Telangana BJP state president Bandi Sanjay comes up with his own drama.”
“Be it accusations of violence, victim blaming, claiming Congress candidate P Shravanti joined TRS, our leaders joining other parties, money being found with our leader Jagdish Reddy’s assistant, all turned out to be fake. The Delhi rule is full of liars, the leaders here are simply jokes. Bandi Sanjay doesn’t even know under whose control the Election Commission is supposed to function under. He mocks the commission even though it is under BJP ruled Centre’s control,” he said.
KTR concluded that if BJP has the courage, they need to fight elections with honour.
