The Congress said that there was minimal time gap between the dates of notification and the last date for nominations, and therefore the COngress could not finalise appropriate candidates.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy blamed the "erroneous and illogical" election schedule for there being no Congress candidates for a few seats for the upcoming municipal elections.
Strongly condemning TRS Working President & Minister K T Rama Rao for his statement that the Congress could not find candidates to field in nearly 500 seats for municipal elections, Reddy said that there was minimal or no time gap between the date of notification and the last date for nominations, and therefore the opposition parties could not finalise appropriate candidates.
Since the TRS knew the ward reservations in advance, it took unfair advantage, he claimed.
It was thus the manipulation of polling process by the TRS government and not the weakness of the Congress that was the reason for his party not being able to field candidates in some wards, he said.
It was for the same reason that that the Congress went to the High Court challenging the election schedule and seeking a time gap between the release of the notification and the nomination process, he added. However, the issue was not addressed, he lamented.
"Also, TRS leaders, with the help of the local police, either bribed or intimidated many Congress leaders to stop them from filing their nomination papers. Those who filed their nomination papers were beaten up right in the presence of the local police and forced to withdraw their candidatures. Many Congress leaders who refused TRS offers were implicated in false cases. A few newspapers also reported the incidents with pictures. Formal complaints were also lodged with the State Election Commission. But, as usual, the poll authorities remained inert, apparently to favour the ruling TRS. It is highly shameful that despite indulging in such irregularities to ensure a victory for his party through such backdoor methods, KTR is making false claims of Congress absence in over 500 seats," Reddy added.
Addressing different meetings as part of his campaigning for the municipal elections in Huzurnagar on Friday, the TPCC President alleged that the TRS had been winning elections only through money and muscle power, and by misusing the official machinery. He said that the party would not win even a single seat if elections were held in a free, fair and transparent manner, and that it was managing elections and not really contesting them.
Stating that the TRS had made more than 500 major election promises since 2014, he challenged KTR to list out at least 10 major promises which had been fulfilled.
Reddy then claimed that the Congress, since its inception, had believed in purity of thoughts and ideas. It had always focused on the people's welfare and had introduced schemes that fulfilled the needs of the common people. He ridiculed the TRS leaders for accusing the Congress of copying the TRS' schemes in its manifesto. He pointed out that the Rs 5 meal scheme had been introduced by the previous Congress Government on March 1, 2014, in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits. He said that the Congress was in power at the Centre and in the State, and also in the GHMC, at that time.
He also advised the TRS leaders to compare their party's manifesto for the 2018 elections with that of the Congress, and also check the dates of their release.
"When we promised to double the pension amount to Rs 2,000, Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao made the same announcement two days later by increasing the amount to Rs 2,016. Similarly, our proposal for an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month was copied with an addition of Rs 16. Everyone knows that the Congress stands for originality and purity while the TRS is a cocktail of greedy, disgruntled and unsatisfied leaders of many parties. More than half of KCR's cabinet and three-fourth of the TRS MLAs are migrants from other parties," he said.
"TRS leaders habitually claim false ownership of things. Neither did the TRS government complete a single irrigation project nor did the power projects started by the KCR government generate a single unit of power. All the projects were started and funded during the Congress regime, and the TRS ministers only inaugurated them. Likewise, almost all the water tanks in the urban and the local areas were constructed by the previous Congress government, but the TRS government painted them pink to show them as achievements of Mission Bhagiratha. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the Nehru Outer Ring Road, the PVNR Expressway, the Hyderabad Metro Rail, the highways and internal roads in other districts, and much of the remaining infrastructure was built by the previous Congress government. The TRS government could not even construct buildings for all the 33 district Collectorates in the last six years," he alleged.
The TPCC President said that the people should not trust the fake promises of the TRS, and should vote for the Congress candidates to give the ruling party a major shock and remind its leaders about their unfulfilled promises.