Munugodu Voted For Development, Self-Respect: KTR

Hailing the party's victory in the Munugodu by-election, TRS working president K T Rama Rao today said that the people of the constituency had voted for development and self-respect.

Speaking to the media at the Telangana Bhavan after the victory of TRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy in the by-election, Rao thanked the people for extending their support to the TRS, and said that the victory was a slap in the faces of the BJP leaders, who he claimed had made a mockery of the entire election process in Telangana.

He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union minister Amit Shah had misused every institution for winning the by-election and had created many hurdles for the TRS.

"But all the hurdles created by BJP leaders with the support of the union government couldn't stop the victory of the TRS. We would have won by an even higher majority, but the final margin was lower due to the machinations of the Centre," KTR said.

Lashing out at Modi and Shah for "toppling elected governments in nine States", Rao said that the BJP leaders had hatched a similar conspiracy to topple the government in Telangana, and had sent hundreds of crores through various channels to the accounts of Telangana BJP leaders for winning the by-election.

"BJP leaders, including Raj Gopal Reddy, Eatala Rajender and Vivek, received crores of rupees from New Delhi routed to their businesses. They tried to purchase the voters with that money, and spent money like water to win the by-election. However, the people have taught a fitting lesson to them by defeating Raj Gopal Reddy," KTR said.

KTR also found fault with the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allocating the road-roller and chapati-maker symbols to independent candidates despite the TRS raising objections, and said that over 6,000 votes had gone to those symbols which were similar to the TRS' car symbol.