KCR SKIRTS TALK OF EARLY ELECTIONS BUT SEEKS MANDATE
PITCH TRS president urges people to vote his party back to power, cabinet authorises the chief minister to take the call on early elections
HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said he would soon take a call on the dissolution of the state assembly for early elections in the state. Elections in Telangana are due in April-May next year.
“All my party leaders, including my Cabinet colleagues and MLAs, have authorised me to take a decision on the assembly dissolution... I will take an appropriate decision soon and come before you,” Rao told a public meeting at Kongara Kalan village near Hyderabad.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president separately chaired a Cabinet meeting at his camp office without taking a decision on the dissolution.
The Cabinet authorised Rao to take the call on early polls.
A communique from the chief minister’s office said the next Cabinet meeting would be held shortly.
HYDERABAD: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said he would take a call soon on the dissolution of the state assembly for early elections in the state. The elections are due in April-May next year.
“All my party leaders, including my cabinet colleagues and MLAs, have authorised me to take a decision on the assembly dissolution, which everybody is waiting for anxiously. I will take an appropriate decision soon and come before you,” Rao told a public meeting at Kongara Kalan village near Hyderabad.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president asked the people to vote his party back to power for the second term to enable him continue “the good work” he had done over the last four years.
Rao separately chaired a cabinet meeting at his camp office without taking a decision on the dissolution. The cabinet approved some pending decisions and authorised Rao to take the call on early polls.
A communique from the chief minister’s office said the next cabinet meeting would be held shortly. Unconfirmed reports said it will be called on September 5 for Rao to take a formal decision on the dissolution.
At the rally, Rao recalled his journey from the TRS’s launch in 2001 for the ‘liberation’ of Telanagana from the Andhra rulers to the statehood for it in 2014. He said the people had blessed the TRS as they believe it was the only party, which reflected their aspirations.
“In the last four years and three months, Telangana has come a long way from being a state, which was exploited for decades, to becoming India’s richest state with tremendous annual economic growth rate of 17.2 per cent. We have the vision, commitment and planning,” he said.
Rao presented a progress report of his four-year tenure. He spoke about his government’s schemes and programmes like Mission Kakatiya (for restoration of tanks), Mission Bhagiratha (for supply of drinking water to every house) and a series of irrigation projects and pro-farmer schemes.
“The schemes are there for you to see and you are enjoying their benefits. We have a long way to go to realise our dream of achieving a green and golden Telangana,” he said.
Appealing to the people of the state not to become slaves of national parties, Rao urged the people to emulate Tamil Nadu for their self-respect.
“You have to decide whether decisions relating to Telangana should be taken by us here or should we become slaves of Delhi parties,” he said in an obvious reference to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Hinting that the TRS will contest the coming polls on the plank of self-respect, he advised Telangana people to emulate Tamil Nadu, which has its own parties and where people never allow Delhi parties to take their decisions.
He further lashed out at leaders of the opposition parties for stating that their goal was to oust KCR from power.
Rao accused them of creating hurdles in the path of development by filing court cases over irrigation projects.