No poll pact with TRS in Telangana: BJP chief
HYDERABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Saturday ruled out any alliance with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for the coming Assembly polls in the state and said the TRS owed an explanation to the people for imposing additional expenditure by going for early elections.
Replying to a query at a press conference Shah, who was here to launch the party’s election campaign, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s praise of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during his speech in Parliament was in a different context and it cannot be interpreted as an understanding between the two parties.
He denied reports that the BJP was hand-in-glove with the TRS and alleged that it was the TRS and Majlise-ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) which were engaged in “shadow boxing”.
The BJP chief wanted to know why the TRS imposed early polls on the state when the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are slated to be held nine months later.
Shah said Rao had initially supported Modi’s idea of “one nation one election” but he was surprised when he suddenly changed his stand.
“Rao and TRS have forced a small state to bear expenditure of two elections. BJP believes that TRS has put an additional burden of crores of rupees on people to further its political interests,” said the BJP chief.
Shah said that the BJP was ready to give a tough fight to both the TRS and the opposition Congress in every constituency. He was confident that the BJP will emerge as a strong and decisive force in the state.
Shah said there was no chance of the TRS getting a fresh mandate.
“If the TRS government comes back to power, it will continue its politics of appeasement,” he said slamming it for passing a resolution to provide 12 per cent reservation to Muslims and sending it to the Centre for its approval.
Claiming that the Modi government provided Rs 2.3 lakh crore to Telangana during the last four years against the Rs 15,000 crore given during the Congress rule, Shah said the BJP showed no discrimination towards any state but was opposed to the politics of appeasement.
Meanwhile, a shutdown was imposed in Telangana’s Miryalguda town on Saturday over the murder of a Dalit man in an apparent case of honour killing.
Shops and business establishments remained closed in the town in Nalgonda district, about 150 km from Hyderabad.
Dalit organisations took out rallies, demanding justice for the family of 23-year-old Pranay Kumar, who was hacked to death on Friday as he was coming out of a hospital along with his wife Amrutha Varshini, with whom he had an inter-caste marriage six months ago.
They were in love since their school days and had married against the wishes of the girl’s parents. Since then, he was facing threats to his life, according to informed sources.
Amrutha, who is five-months pregnant, told reporters that her father Maruthi Rao is behind the murder. She said he had been tracking their movements.
The police have reportedly arrested Rao, who allegedly hired a killer to murder Pranay. Amrutha’s uncle T Shravan was also detained.
The BJP chief wanted to know why the TRS imposed early polls on the state when the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are slated to be held nine months later