Hyderabad: Accusing the ruling Congress in Telangana, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Wednesday asked minorities in Hyderabad to “recognise that chief minister Revanth Reddy is acting like a BJP Chief Minister”. Speaking at a preparatory meeting for the coming Jubilee Hills by election, He also said that for the first time in history, the Congress formed a government here without a single minority minister.
Addressing party workers in preparation for the upcoming Hills by-election, KTR said that vote for the Revanth Reddy-led Congress is “essentially a vote for Modi and BJP”. He also censured the government here for allegedly abandoning welfare and development schemes for minorities that the previous BRS government had implemented over the past decade.
The BRS working president accused Congress of deceiving minorities and said that it cancelled programmes like Shaadi Mubarak and minority residential schools. KTR claimed that not even a single minority student has been given a scholarship so far under the Congress. “Against the promise of a ₹4,000 crore minority budget, Congress has delivered nothing, while the BRS government had spent ₹12,000 crore on minorities over 10 years,” he further claimed.
The upcoming Jubilee Hills by election is going to have high stakes for the ruling Congress which is looking to wrest it from the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The bypoll has been necessitated after the late BRS legislator Maganti Gopinath passed away recently. The ruling party here was unable to win any seat in the Greater Hyderabad area in the 2023 state elections and hence winning that will of utmost importance for it.
While the BRS is sitting strong in the Jubilee Hills by election, the party has been currently hit by internal rebellion. K Kavitha, ex-MLC and daughter of BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), was suspended from the party on September 2 for her criticism of BRS leaders (and her cousin) Harish Rao and Santosh. Kavitha a day later on September 3 then resigned from the BRS and her MLC post.
With Mohd Azharuddin out of the race, all eyes are on the Congress leadership in Telangana to see who be the party’s candidate for the upcoming Jubilee Hills by election. While no one has been announced officially so far, the names of Congress leaders G Ranjith Reddy and Naveen Yadav are currently doing rounds as possible candidates.
At KTR’s meeting in Hyderabad on Wednesday, KTR also said that while Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi strongly opposes the BJP, Modi, and central agencies like CBI, Telangana CM Revanth here “is acting in complete contradiction” to the Congress ideology. He claimed that multiple surveys confirm that BRS is in a stronger position than Congress across divisions in the constituency.
