BJP MLA Eatala Rajender has said that he will contest against Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao from Gajwel constituency in the Assembly elections.
He said in an informal chat with media persons here on Saturday that he had spoken his mind on this earlier also and was reaffirming his position again now. “I am working on defeating Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao seriously from now.” There was a need to defeat him at any cost, Mr. Rajender added.
Mr. Rajender recalled that he had joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) two decades ago at Gajwel. And it was his firm resolve to inflict a defeat for Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao at the same place.
A repeat of West Bengal scenario was on cards in Telangana, he said and likened his possible victory over Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao to that of the loss of Ms. Mamata Banerjee at the hands of her erstwhile colleague in Trinamool Congress Suvendhu Adhikari in the last Assembly elections in that State. Mr. Suvendu had also quit the ruling party like him to join the BJP and defeat the TMC supremo.
Fall in popularity
Mr. Rajender said there was a steep decline in the popularity of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao . He had suffered an irreparable damage in public view. The public was detached from him. Mr. Rao was no longer a shining personality as he was about to the outwitted by his rivals.
He advised election strategist Prashant Kishore to evaluate the chances of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao in the next elections instead of surveying other TRS leaders. The allurement of voters by the TRS with money will not work any more, the BJP MLA said.
Mr. Rajender also emphasised the need for everyone to set aside personal egos to hit back at Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao. They should work with single minded devotion like the mythological Arjun in Mahabharat who aimed his arrow at the eye of eagle.
He maintained that the BJP will revenge the crossover of four of its corporators in Hyderabad to the TRS. The BJP will not gloss over the development. A secret operation to win over TRS leaders was initiated by the BJP.