Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar today came down heavily on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the ruling party for allegedly trying to win the upcoming MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda through "underhand means".
The BJP chief accused the CM of taking credit for the schemes initiated and bankrolled by the Centre to "mislead" the people of the state ahead of the elections, and alleged, "The TRS government always takes credit for various schemes of the Centre and does not do anything for the state on its own. In fact, while the Centre had allocated funds to Telangana under the Smart City Mission, the ruling party diverted them. The CM is worse than a dog. Even dogs are loyal, but KCR has betrayed the people of his state."
Kumar also attacked the CM and his party for their decision to field the daughter of former Prime Minister late P V Narasimha Rao, Surabhi Vani Devi, from the Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy seat, and said they had done so knowing that their party could not win without "using the legacy" of the former PM.
(The grandson of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, BJP leader N V Subash, had also made similar remarks about the CM's decision to field Vani Devi, and had said that the move was the result of the party's
attempt to "appropriate" the former PM's legacy.)
Kumar then assailed Vani Devi for contesting the elections on behalf of a party that had threatened to destroy the samadhi of her father (the P V Ghat), located on the banks of the Hussain Sagar.
(With this particular remark, the BJP leader took a shot at what is, many believe, almost akin to the ruling party's Achilles heel - its oft-talked about "secret alliance" with the MIM. In this veiled reference to the rumoured alliance, Kumar was referring to MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi's controversial comments on the matter. Owaisi had stirred up quite a row ahead of last year's GHMC elections by demanding that the pink party
demolish the mausoleum of the former PM instead of targeting the houses of the poor, claiming that the memorial had been built on encroached land.)
He then appealed to the voters of the two graduates' constituencies to support the BJP in the upcoming elections, saying that a BJP victory would be the only thing that would drive the CM to take an active interest in the affairs of the state instead of "hiding" in his farmhouse.