Minister for Municipal Administration K. T. Rama Rao expects the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to alter the dates of Assembly elections in five States, including Telangana, and may extend the term of these legislatures to conduct elections to them along with its much propagated simultaneous elections for Assemblies and Parliament.
“So far, there are only indications and assumptions that there would be simultaneous elections and the unexpected Parliament sessions are only to introduce the Bill. However, we have to wait and watch till the agenda is declared for the sessions and till that time the discussions around the combined elections may be just speculation,” he said.
Mr. Rama Rao, in an informal chat with the media men here on Tuesday, said only two people in the country would be aware of the exact dates, without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. “We will wait and reveal our strategy but the BRS is opposed to simultaneous elections,” he said.
If elections to Telangana have to be conducted as per schedule, the notification would have to be issued by October 10. Even if the election dates were extended, it would be advantageous for the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) as it would have ample time to complete the projects and fulfil all the poll promises.
The Minister also opined that Mr. Modi was afraid of losing in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, along with Telangana and this could be one of the reasons why ‘the one-nation one-election’ was brought up. Since he has given six months time to the Ramnath Kovind Committee to submit its report, Mr Modi may use it to postpone the elections and also rake up Hindu sentiment with the inauguration of Ram Mandir. “The picture will be clear only when Parliament session starts.”
Rakes up Telangana sentiment
The Minister said the Opposition is in disarray without any credible leadership and there is an effort to bring the Andhra-origin leaders to Telangana yet again. He was referring to the recent comments of Congress leader K.V.P. Ramchandra Rao to consider him as a person of Telangana, and also YSRTP president Y.S. Sharmila. Former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who had opposed Telangana at every level, is now directing BJP president G. Kishan Reddy on the functioning of the party in Telangana.
“KVP Ramachandra Rao, who tried to buy the Telangana movement and suppress it, now wants to be recognised as a Telangana supporter. Those who opposed Telangana tooth and nail are trying to get into Telangana yet again, and people should be wary of it,” he said.
The Minister said Telangana would never accept them as their leaders, and for the people of Telangana KCR was the undisputed leader. Lashing out at Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy, he said Mr. Reddy was not a supporter of Telangana but a problem for Telangana. He has a history of aiming guns at Telangana supporters and has no credibility as a leader.
