CONGRESS, TRS SHOOT BARBS AT EACH OTHER

TRS and Congress leaders have stepped up their campaign for the bypoll in Palair town, while the CPM is concentrating on a village-centric campaign.

Municipal administration minister K.T. Rama Rao, who is the TRS in-charge for the Palair bypoll, on Saturday addressed a series of meetings during which he asked the people to “throw out both the Congress and the CPM who have won the seat for decades and were responsible for the backwardness”.

“You earlier voted for the Congress and the CPM, but both betrayed you and neglected development of the constituency. Give a chance to TRS this time and all your problems will be solved,” Mr Rama Rao said.

The minister said that both TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy have been objecting to the new projects taken up by the TRS government and this has led to several leaders and legislators of these parties joining the TRS.

Meanwhile, TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who is leading the Congress campaign in Palair, on Saturday expressed confidence that party nominee Sucharitha Reddy would win the bypoll with a thumping majority. He condemned Mr Rama Rao for saying that the TRS government had taken care of the medical bills for treatment of Ramreddy Venkatreddy, whose sudden demise necessitated the bypoll.

Accusing Mr Rama Rao of misleading the people, he said the treatment cost of Ramreddy Venkatreddy was borne not only by TRS Government, but also by the previous Congress government.

“As a sitting MLA, Ramreddy Venkatreddy was entitled to free treatment. It is highly derogatory on the part of KTR to mention the cost of treatment for a deceased MLA,” he said.