‘Munugode bypoll will catapult BRS to national scene’

Hyderabad: As the people of Munugode head to the polling booth on Thursday, they have great expectations not just from the candidates of different political parties, but also from various other quarters, for the future. Munugode, for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, is being seen as a stepping stone for the Bharat Rashtra Samithi onto the […]

Hyderabad: As the people of Munugode head to the polling booth on Thursday, they have great expectations not just from the candidates of different political parties, but also from various other quarters, for the future.

Munugode, for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, is being seen as a stepping stone for the Bharat Rashtra Samithi onto the national political scenario.

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TRS working president KT Rama Rao, exuding confidence that party candidate Koosukuntla Prabhakar Reddy would win with a huge majority, said the victory would inject renewed energy among the party cadre.

In an informal interaction with the media on Wednesday, Rama Rao said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become a “massive threat” to the poor as every policy decision of his undermines them. Notwithstanding other political parties, he asserted that the TRS (BRS) would take the BJP head-on. Unlike the Congress, the TRS (BRS) has clarity on issues pertaining to Telangana and the country, he said, pointing out that a victory in Munugode would set the template for the BRS’ journey forward.

Stating that the BJP was instigating violence and would go to any extent to disrupt polling on Thursday, the Minister said the BJP was conspiring to purchase TRS MLAs only to damage the morale of the party cadre. “But when their plans failed, BJP national president JP Nadda cancelled his meeting at Munugode. Now, they are resorting to violence to disrupt polling,” he said.

BJP’s game plan

Rama Rao said the Munugode bypoll was forced on the people as part of union Home Minister Amit Shah’s larger gamble to win the election and attract leaders from other parties into the BJP. Just like it did in other States, the BJP was trying to implement its game plan to make inroads into Telangana by poaching leaders, deploying smaller parties to split votes of rival parties, spreading false propaganda, instigating communal violence and polarising voters, among other tactics.

“In fact, the failed attempt to poach TRS MLAs was also part of this gamble. But we have a master strategist in KCR to foil all their game plans. The BJP is stooping to new lows by deploying Swamijis to do their dirty work. What came out in the case is just a tip of the iceberg, which will be exposed in court,” he said, asking why the BJP was rushing to the court for a CBI investigation or hearing in the Supreme Court if it was not involved.

CBI is now Modi’s parrot

On barring the CBI from entering the State, Rama Rao said Prime Minister Modi specialised in the abuse of Constitutional institutions to meet his political agenda and that the TRS would not allow that in Telangana. “As the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi termed the CBI a parrot of the Central government when the Congress was in power at the Centre. I completely agree with him as he is misusing it now,” he said.

Responding to a question on Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan keeping several Bills pending from approval, Rama Rao said it was unbecoming of the Governor to hold on to Bills for long and bringing a conflict between two democratic and Constitutional institutions.

As the Governor system was part of the British era, he felt that it should be done away with as was suggested by the Prime Minister to get over with the Colonial hangover during the 75th Independence Day speech.

BJP strangulating States

The Minister also accused the Centre of misusing its powers to strangulate Opposition-ruled States and making people suffer to make Chief Ministers look bad. Apart from squeezing States’ funds, he said the Centre was keeping decisions pending on issues such as distribution of Krishna river water.

Rama Rao said the BJP government at the Centre was forcing several companies to establish their units in the BJP-ruled States such as Gujarat if they needed the prerequisite approvals from the Centre.

BRS to focus on neighbouring States first

On the delay in approval from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to BRS as national party, he doubted the BJP was playing spoilsport. The party plans to first focus on areas adjoining Telangana in the neighbouring States, before extending its activities to the rest of the country. “Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is targeting the 2024 general elections,” he said.

Munugode favouring TRS

Rama Rao said the situation in the Munugode constituency was favourable to the party. The TRS government was supplying drinking water to every household, ending the fluorosis crisis. This has helped the party win the hearts of Munugode voters. People have made up their minds long ago, he said.