Rahul, Naidu kickstart joint campaign
POWER PLAY Both slam KCR govt and Centre for their ‘failures’; Opposition alliance a historic necessity, says Telugu Desam chief
HYDERABAD: Setting the stage for the formation of an anti-bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance at the national level, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu addressed a public meeting in Khammam on Tuesday, kick-starting their joint campaign for the December 7 Telangana assembly elections.
Burying their 35-year-old political rivalry, the two parties have linked up with two other parties – the Communist Party of India and the Telangana Jana Samithi – to form a Praja Kootami (People’s Front), to defeat the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) headed by K Chandrashekar Rao in the polls.
While Naidu described the alliance of opposition parties as a historic necessity, Gandhi said the alliance was not just for the Telangana polls, but the beginning of a mass movement that would decide the future of the country.
The Centre has systematically undermined all institutions, including the Supreme Court, the CBI, the RBI and the Election Commission, Gandhi said. The TRS government in Telangana has, on its part, made the lives of every section of the people including farmers, women and the young miserable, he said.
“So, there is an urgent need to bring down these two governments. First, we shall defeat the TRS, which is nothing but a Team B of Modi, in the assembly polls and then march ahead to pull down Team A,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi brushed off the allegation levelled by the PM that TRS was a by-product of the Congress. In fact the TRS was a secret ally of the BJP, he alleged.
“He and his family looted public money in the name of redesigning irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram,” Gandhi said.
Earlier, Naidu said TDP and Congress had been enemies for several decades, but they were compelled to join hands only for the sake of the people.
“Having developed Telangana in various fields in my earlier regime, I strongly wished that Telugu people should remain united despite belonging to two states. I have no interest whatsoever in ruling Telangana,” he said.
Addressing a rally earlier in Kodangal, Gandhi said he saw winds of change in Telangana. He and Naidu later addressed roadsshows at Sanathnagar and Ameerpet in Hyderabad.
The Telangana CM later reacted: “This man carrying the Gandhi tag...is speaking nonsense without rhyme or reason. He has failed to see the development our government has done.”
Telangana did not need Naidu’s advice, he added.
Later, Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishnasagar Rao said: “They are only trying to save their parties from extinction by joining hands, setting aside their ideological differences.”