It looks like former Health Minister of Telangana Etala Rajender has had enough of BC Welfare and Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar's continuous
diatribes against him. He made this abundantly clear at a press conference held in Huzurbad today, where he flayed the latter for targeting him.
The ousted leader asked Kamalakar to stop his "rants" against him, and declared that he (Rajender) would not get scared of any threats made by the minister. He even warned the TRS bigwig that the people of his constituency would teach the pink party a befitting lesson when they got the chance to do so.
Rajender alleged that Kamalakar had "destroyed" the assets of Karimnagar, and that he had transformed the historic town into "a land of graves" by "looting" it. He also alleged that the minister had only secured a Cabinet post through his lobbying.
"Gangula Kamalakar should know that power is not permanently held by anybody. Maybe he will not even return to power after the 2023 Assembly elections. I will not be scared off by his constant rants against me. And anyway, he should first deal with his own tax evasion before pointing fingers at me," the former minister asserted.
Reacting to this, Kamalakar, who has regularly been attacking Etala Rajender for "spreading lies" about the TRS and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao after his
removal from the state Cabinet, hit out at the former minister again, this time for not resigning from the post of Huzurabad MLA and from the ruling party.
At a media event, Kamalakar demanded that Rajender immediately quit the party, and thundered, "If he has any guts, Rajender should resign from our party and step down as MLA. He should then re-contest for the Huzurabad seat. When the party leadership has already expelled him from the Cabinet why is he still hanging on as TRS member and MLA?"
He also flayed Rajender, who claimed that Kamalakar turned Karimnagar district into a cemetery and destroyed the region, for "making personal attacks".
Countering the claims, the minister said, "I have developed Karimnagar with support from the CM and from IT Minister K T Rama Rao. I have not at all neglected the area. Moreover, if Rajender truly felt that there was no development in the district, I wonder why he did not bring this failure of mine to the notice of the party high command all this time. As for the allegations of tax evasion he has levelled against me, those are entirely false."
Kamalakar also condemned the comments Rajender had made against the TRS government, and charged, "The expelled leader has no right to make unsavoury and false remarks against the government. Our government is enquiring into the land grabbing charges being faced by him, and will take the necessary action if the accusations are found to be true. Just because a probe has been initiated against Rajender, he cannot make belittling comments against the TRS' rank and file."