Jubilee Hills bypoll not a referendum on govt: Revanth Reddy

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy dismissed claims that the Jubilee Hills by-election is a referendum on his government, calling it a test of performance. He highlighted Hyderabad’s development projects, downplayed BJP’s criticism

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy left political observers scratching their heads when he disagreed with a questioner who asked whether he considered the Jubilee Hill bypoll as a referendum on the functioning of his two-year-old government.

To the pointed question at his 90-minute-long press conference on Friday, Revanth Reddy replied it was “an outdated philosophy (bypolls being the referendum)”. “Irrespective of victory or loss, every election is a test for our performance. We will analyse the results and strive to work hard in serving the people,” Revanth Reddy said.

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He appealed to the voters to analyse the Congress government’s performance from 2004 to 2014 in the State, while arguing that the Integrated Command Control Room, the Secretariat, Pragathi Bhavan and Kaleshwaram projects built during the BRS rule were of no use to the people.

He challenged the BRS to list out its contribution for Hyderabad’s development. He accused the BRS and the BJP of creating hurdles in development projects, especially Metro expansion, River Musi, Future City among others. He recalled that the Congress government in the past had constructed the Outer Ring Road, Shamshabad airport, Hitec City and others.

In the last 10 years, the BRS government did not have any policy or future plans. On the contrary, the Congress government was developing a Vision 2047 document, he stressed.

Despite heavy rains lashing the city this monsoon, not a single road was flooded and there were no complaints of water logging. Like Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who built rainwater harvesting pits, the Congress government constructed rainwater harvesting wells in Hyderabad, he maintained.

He stated that Jubilee Hills by-election was crucial for Hyderabad’s development. Like in Secunderabad Cantonment, the government would take up several development projects in Jubilee Hills constituency as well, he assured, urging the people to give one opportunity to Congress candidate V Naveen Yadav.

On Union Minister Bandi Sanjay’s charges that he was trying to transform Telangana into an Islamic State, the Chief Minister said he would not take such comments seriously. “It is a political statement and we will not book any cases against the Union Minister,” he stressed.

Regarding the Congress party’s alliance with AIMIM in the by-election despite Congress MPs and leaders dubbing the latter as BJP’s ‘B’ team, the Chief Minister said India was a union of States. “Political equations change from one State to another,” he defended.