Dattatreya Sacking An Insult To State: TRS, Congress

The 13th annual Alai-Balai program organized on Sunday at Exhibition Grounds by Secunderabad MP, BJP leader and former union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya saw less than the bonhomie it is expected to engender.

In an indirect attack on the BJP, Congress senior leader V Hanumantha Rao said that he had expected a promotion for the MP in the recent reshuffling of the union cabinet, but surprisingly the Telangana leader had lost his minister post altogether.

Addressing the gathering VHR alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed BCs from the cabinet and replaced them with upper caste MPs.

"I thought Modi would give top priority to BCs, but he did the reverse. BCs are in pain after Modi's reshuffling of his Cabinet," he lamented.

TRS Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao too said that the allegation that Dattatreya was meted out injustice in the reshuffling of union cabinet was true.

Rao though said that it was not correct to position Dattatreya as a member of a particular community.

"I saw the status of Dattatreya in Delhi. I am sure that he will get a top position in the near future," he said.

Union minister Hansraj Gangaram however swiftly hit back, saying that Dattatreya's removal from the union cabinet was only to utilize his services even more effectively for the BJP in Telangana.

He also said that it was fatuous to say that the BJP hurt the BCs, given that PM Modi himself belonged to the BCs.

Dattatreya himself however stuck to expressing a desire that Telangana would become No 1 by 2022 across India.

He also said that the two Telugu states needed to solve their issues in a friendly atmosphere.

He announced that the Alai-Balai program would be organized across Telangana from next year.

The program was a big hit with union ministers Santhosh Kumar Gangwar and Hansraj Gangaram, CPI national general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, state ministers Mahmood Ali, Nayani Narasimha Reddy and Etela Rajender, MPs Konda Vishweshwar Reddy and A P Jithender Reddy, Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud, Congress senior leader V Hanumantha Rao, Telangana JAC chairman M Kodandaram, TDP senior leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy, music director Vandemataram Srinivas, lyricist Suddala Ashok Teja, eminent writer Andesri and several others participating in it. Dattatreya honoured the guests by offering them shawls and hugging them.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent messages extending greetings for the conduct of the program and wishing that it turn out a grand success this year, too.

Artists embellished the event with Telangana songs and dances.