BRS will not align with BJP; was born secular, will continue to be secular: Harish

Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, he said the BRS came into existence with secular credentials.

Hyderabad: BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao said the BRS would not align with the BJP or any other forces of religious fundamentalism under any circumstances.

Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, he said the BRS came into existence with secular credentials. It had remained secular all these years since inception and would continue working for people remaining secular in future as well. Highlighting the need for a strong regional party to pay due attention to minority communities in a State like Telangana, he ruled out that the BJP was all set occupy the void created by the defeat of the BRS in the last Assembly elections. It is high time minorities, including Muslims and Christians, came together and voted for the BRS, enabling it win a significant number of Lok Sabha seats in the State, he said.

---

It is the “responsibility of the minorities” to ensure that the fundamentalist forces would not be able to make inroads. They should support the BRS for their own sake. They can avoid problems for them by keep such parties away from the State. The Congress Party was under the impression that the minorities would support it by default in the elections.

It is a matter of fact that the Congress Party nominees were in third place in many seats, including Secunderabad, Medak, Warangal and Malkajgiri in the State. The Congress was trailing way behind the BRS and BJP. In such cases, voting for the Congress would indirectly benefit the BJP in the contest. They should vote for the BRS directly so as to avoid the BJP. They should look for right option, taking the factors into consideration seat-wise to ensure that the secular party emerges victorious, he said.

Reiterating that BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao would be playing a decisive role as the Leader of Opposition, Harish Rao said Chandrashekhar Rao could not take part in the deliberations of the State Assembly during the last session as he was not well. He was better now and was addressing roadshows spearheading the party campaign for the polls.

Harish Rao claimed that the Congress Party, as part of an understanding, was cooperating with the BJP in such a way that the latter would have advantage in eight seats to win. Adding to this, BJP senior leaders such as Dharmapuri Arvind had been claiming that Revanth Reddy would join the BJP soon after the parliamentary polls. The Chief Minister had neither condemned nor denied such claims being made by the BJP leaders, he said.

On the Medigadda rehabilitation, he said crucial work time of nearly five months was lost mainly because of the Congress government’s stand that the repairs should be taken up only after receiving the report of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA). Questioning the standing of the NDSA, he recalled that the diaphragm wall of the Polavaram project on Godavari was washed away more than four years ago. But NDSA was yet to come out with its investigation report. But in the case of Medigadda, it could give its report within a week. If the State government was serious about its rehabilitation, it could have completed the repairs by now. The fate of Kaleshwaram would not have been the same, if Chandrashekhar Rao continued in power, he maintained.