Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president and state minister KT Rama Rao (KTR), on Friday, set off a chain reaction with all major players in Telangana politics- all with a single tweet.
On the tenth anniversary of ‘Sagaraharam,’ a massive rally taken out by the TRS during the Telangana statehood movement, KTR posted pictures of the crowd of around 1.5 lakh people that assembled at Hyderabad’s Tank Bund on September 30, 2012.
In Telugu, KTR captioned the pictures, “The day when the Telangana movement was taken to its zenith under the leadership of KCR… The day when lakhs of voices chanted ‘Jai Telangana’.”
“Where is your trace in the Telangana movement, Revanth, Bandi Sanjay, Praveen Kumar and Sharmila, who make useless criticisms every day?” he asked.
The first to respond to KTR’s tweet was Telangana Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) chief RS Praveen Kumar, who called KTR a ‘Twitter pitta (bird)’ and said, “When you were indulging in parties at farmhouses of Andhra bigwigs, I was saving Telangana’s children from Andhra’s policemen. I carried martyrs’ bodies. You then handed over Telangana’s wealth to Andhra stakeholders like Megha.”
Praveen Kumar referred to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), the Andhra-based private company entrusted with the Telangana state government’s Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP).
Soon after, Revanth Reddy also replied to KTR’s barb. Posting a news article clipping on the then Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Revanth’s attempt to disrupt an assembly session in 2012, contending that the “governor’s address to the house did not reflect the separate Telangana state aspirations of the people.”
Captioning the news clipping, Revanth wrote- “Kalvakuntla snakes made their way into the anthill. Telangana movement was everyones. The Sagara Haram was held with the help of JAC, who represented the people.”
“Just like depending on the movement in the past, you are now getting used to depending on the statehood,” he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bandi Sanjay Kumar responded with a series of tweets, and multiple photos of him protesting. “No matter how much you get stuck in a liquor scam, how can you lose your mind like this,” Sanjay said.
“Ask my clothes that were soaked by the water cannons in Delhi, ask the wounds I received from police batons. Ask the souls of the martyrs whom you suppressed- Ask them where I was,” he wrote.
YSR Telangana president YS Sharmila also posted a series of tweets, saying, “Even though I am not in power, I am standing by the people! I’m here to help people! I am with the people! I am in the crowd! I follow the people, I am in the people.”
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