Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has lost the “moral right” to rule Telangana, having “lost the confidence of people” and therefore, he should immediately dissolve the Assembly and seek a fresh mandate “if he has any guts”, said BJP MLA and former Minister Eatala Rajender on Tuesday.
“People are angry with this government and are ready to bury this regime deep. No alliance will save the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). We are ready for elections any time as has been stated by Home Minister Amit Shah,” he told a press conference at the party office.
Stung by the criticism levelled against him by TRS leaders earlier in the day, the former Minister levelled serious charges against ruling party leaders, saying “ill-gotten wealth to the tune of ₹20,000 crore was obtained through dubious land deals in and around Hyderabad even usurping the lands of the poor” acting like real estate brokers. “Is it not true that money was sent to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Bihar during elections there,” he asked.
The TRS did not have a single MLC in Legislative Council in 2014 and later it got the Telugu Desam MLAs and Congress MLAs to it side. Even after winning a massive mandate in 2018, Congress MLAs were lured, he pointed out, in response to the TRS leaders criticising him for being made head of the committee to attract leaders from other parties into the BJP.
The BJP leader questioned the TRS fund collection and wondered how a relatively new regional party could amass such wealth. “KCR or his cronies should tell us from where this money came. The scam-tainted money was used to lure MLAs and MLCs from other parties like the Congress after praising Sonia Gandhi as “Goddess who gave Telangana,” he said.
“KCR is using his slaves to call me names and make charges against me. If I was corrupt and not trust worthy how was I made a finance minister and later health minister? I stayed in TRS for two decades and no one said a word against me till I was forced to resign as MLA,” he said.
Mr. Rajender said he was ready to fight KCR directly in the elections and asserted that the Huzurabad bypoll was in fact a “straight fight” as the latter had put in all his might to ensure his defeat but was unsuccessful. “KCR tried to defeat me in 2018 elections though I was a minister. What is the mistake I had done to be removed as finance minister or health minister? Cheap accusations were made against me and complaints were made to ED, CBI and other agencies but the Huzurabad people had elected me with a bigger majority,” he said.
