Etala quit to save himself: TRS
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Friday countered former health minister Etala Rajendar's claim that he had quit the party and the MLA post for self-respect. It said the resignation of Rajendar was not for self-respect but for selfprotection to safeguard illegal assets that were amassed by him as minister for seven years by joining the BJP.
Addressing a press conference here, party MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy said Rajendar was sacked from the Cabinet by party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for resorting to anti-people and anti-party activities besides encroaching assigned lands meant for Dalits and temple lands.
Palla Rajeshwar Reddy said Rajendar mortgaged his selfrespect with the BJP for his own advantage and dug his own grave by deciding to join the BJP. “When Rajendar says that he was facing humiliation for the last five years, why didn’t he quit all these days instead of fighting for self-respect?” Reddy asked. It was only because of the Chief Minister’s support that Rajendar achieved this position, he added.
“Instead of rendering services to the people, Rajendar grabbed the lands of the poor. It would have been better if he had resigned the day he was sacked from the state Cabinet,” he said.
He demanded Rajendar to explain to people why he was joining the BJP which merged seven mandals in Khammam district with Andhra Pradesh after Telangana was carved out, creating obstacles in the development of Telangana for the last seven years and which recently brought anti-farmer laws.
“For the last 20 years, Chandrashekar Rao nurtured several leaders and Rajendar who enjoyed several posts was one among them,” he said.
“What happened to his ideology?” Reddy asked and added that everyone developed an extreme dislike towards Rajendar for joining hands with BJP. “Being a minister, Rajendar did illegal activities and took lands from villagers. Where is his selfrespect?” he questioned.
He
condemned
Rajendar’s remarks that the TRS was winning all the polls using money. He said Telangana had achieved major development in the last seven years and priority was given to the welfare activities also.
“We explained the development we did in the state and asked for votes during every election. Accordingly, we achieved success in the elections but not with money,” Telangana was the only state that was purchasing the crops produced by farmers, he said.
Graduates taught a fitting lesson to the BJP during the recent MLC elections for speaking lies on jobs. “We never went back on Neellu (water), Nidhulu (funds) and Niyamakaalu (jobs) and did whatever we promised,” Reddy added.