TPCC chief and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today claimed that the leaders of the TRS were intimidating the voters in the two graduates' constituencies of Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam and Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy to make sure that they won in the upcoming MLC elections in the two constituencies.
Speaking at a press conference at the Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Kumar alleged that the TRS was adopting "illegal means" to win the MLC elections at any cost.
"The ruling party's leaders, including its ministers, MPs and MLAs, have been threatening the voters of the two graduates' constituencies. They have been telling the voters that failure to vote for the TRS will result in dire consequences. Voters are even being coerced into taking oaths of support. The Congress has gathered video evidence of such illegal oath-taking across all the six districts, and we will be submitting them to the Election Commission of India (EC)," he said.
The MP also alleged that TRS ministers were openly threatening teachers' unions as well.
He pointed out that by indulging in "unethical and immoral practices" to win the elections, the TRS was insulting all the graduates in the six districts and the very spirit of democracy, and lambasted the party saying, "The ruling party has taken away the right to choose from the graduates. It is trying to take away their agency to cast their votes according to their own preferences. This is an insult to the graduates who must now unitedly ensure the defeat of not only the TRS but also the BJP in the upcoming elections."
Reddy then demanded that the EC take stern action against the TRS' "malpractice", and warned that inaction on the commission's part would lead to the conclusion that it, too, was colluding with the party to manipulate the MLC elections.
Talking about his own party's approach to the elections, he explained that the Congress was hoping to win the seats in order to resolve the problem of rising unemployment and the issues being faced by the government employees in the state.
"We want to assure the government employees and the unemployed youth that the Congress will fight for them, come what may. Also remember that the victory of our candidates in the upcoming MLC elections will exert huge pressure on both the state government and the BJP-led Centre, prompting them to take steps to resolve all the unaddressed issues plaguing the state," the leader claimed.
He then called out TRS leader and IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao for his "hypocrisy" after the latter held a meeting with the Brahmin community in the six districts to seek its votes, and asked, "Why should the Brahmins vote for TRS when an advocate couple, Gattu Vaman Rao and P V Nagamani, belonging to their community, were
brutally murdered, in an attack that in all likelihood was backed by TRS leaders? Moreover, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not even condemn the murders, leave alone ordering a CBI enquiry into them."
Reacting to KTR's
recent promise to journalists, that of providing them with housing sites, the MP said, "The TRS regime seems to realise the importance of journalists only in the run-up to the various elections in the state. The CM and his son are only deceiving the journalists with false promises once again, for if they were truly concerned by the housing issue, they would have surely done something to provide houses to the scribes in their first term in power. But, this was not so. Instead, the CM made a promise to the journalists just before the 2018 elections that he would resolve all the issues of the community. But, true to TRS tradition, he forgot the assurance as soon as the elections were over. KTR's promise is also the same, made in view of the upcoming MLC elections. It is pertinent here to mention that the preceding Congress regimes had provided house sites to hundreds of journalists in three phases without any trouble or delays."
Reddy also brought up the problems being faced by the educational institutions in the state, and said that the TRS government had been neglecting the private institutions and had been harassing them since 2014.
"The KCR regime has not done anything to support any private educational institutions or private teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic even when thousands of teachers almost starved due to the closure of schools during the months-long lockdown. Now, however, the TRS leaders somehow have the audacity to ask the teachers for votes. The latter will not of course buy into any more false promises and will reject the party's candidates," he asserted.
Continuing his tirade against the CM and his party, the TPCC head accused KCR of being an opportunist for fielding the daughter of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, Surabhi Vani Devi, from the Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangaraeddy constituency, and alleged, "KCR was a big critic of Narasimha Rao when the latter was in power at the Centre. However, he is now trying to benefit from PVNR's reputation and legacy by exploiting his family members. Vani Devi has been fielded as a candidate from Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy constituency as a sacrificial lamb. She will meet the same fate and will receive the same treatment as Shankaramma, the mother of Telangana martyr Kasoju Srikhantha Chary. Shankaramma was first given a ticket from Huzurnagar which she could not win. Following the defeat, she was continually sidelined, and not even given a ticket in the 2018 election. Also, it is hypocritical of the TRS to use the former PM's legacy - he was a Congressman till his last breath. It is shameless on the part of the ruling party to seek votes by using an ex-Congress leader."
He then conveyed his greetings to all the women in Telangana on the occasion of International Women's Day, and highlighted the steps taken by the preceding Congress governments towards the empowerment of women. He added that the party's commitment to the ideals of gender equality was clear through the fact that the country's only woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, had been a Congress leader. Further, he said that the Congress party was committed to securing 33% reservation for women in the Assembly and the Parliament, and that it would pass the Bills for the same in Parliament after its return to power in 2023.
TPCC minorities cell Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail, fishermen cell Chairman Mettu Sai and other leaders were also present at the press meet.