Hyderabad: TRS (soon to be Bharata Rashtra Samithi) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Thursday promised to adopt Munugode constituency and take “complete responsibility” for its development if the party’s candidate K Prabhakar Reddy wins the upcoming bypoll on November 3.
KTR’s promise to the voters came during an election rally held at Chandur village in the constituency. He was accompanied by members of the Communist Party of India (CPI), which declared support to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the run up to the by-poll.
The seat was vacated after ex-Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy quit the grand old party recently and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Interestingly, his brother Rajgopal Venkat Reddy is still a Congress member of Parliament. The Munugode seat by-poll is more or less considered to be a semi-final to the 2023 Telangana state polls. The BJP is expecting to be the main contender this time.
“This untimely election has been rubbed onto the lives of Munugode’s voters due to the arrogance of a contractor. Has Rajagopal Reddy done any developmental activities in the last four years? Did he meet the district’s minister Jagadish Reddy for the sake of any village?” KTR asked, attacking the BJP’s by-poll candidate.
KTR on the occasion asked people to “look back” on the conditions 10 years ago in the region, and said that things have changed drastically for the better. “Nalgonda district was severely hit by the fluorosis challenge and consecutive prime ministers did not do anything about it. But chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao solved the problem,” he said.
The industries minister further alleged that even though Niti Ayog had recommended that a grant of Rs 19000 crore be given to fight fluorosis, the Centre ended up “delivering” a contract of Rs 18000 crore to K Rajagopal Reddy’s company. KTR also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the first PM in India’s history to increase taxation on handlooms. “I ask the weavers of Munugode to be careful before they vote for BJP,” he added.
On Thursday, the BJP also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India, alleging that bogus 25,000 voters have registered in Munugode at behest of the ruling TRS.
