BRS MP, Telangana polls candidate stabbed, KCR calls it ‘attack on me’

Rao said the accused, C Raju, 38, was caught by BRS workers who beat him up and then handed him over to the police. The motive for the attack was not known, the minister said.

Reddy, who is seen as close to state Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, often referred to by his initials KCR, is the BRS candidate from the Dubbaka seat, under which Surampalli falls, for the state polls on November 30. Reddy is pitted against the incumbent BJP MLA, M Raghunandan Rao.

Blaming the “opposition” for “promoting gundagiri (hooliganism) and violence”, KCR said Reddy’s stabbing was “an attack on me”.

“By God’s grace, the danger was averted. Is this political or anarchic? I am saying the attack on the Dubbaka candidate is an attack on KCR,” he told a rally in Banswada.

“If the attacks are not stopped… we also have courage. If we also resort to the same acts, you (opposition parties) will not remain… even your dust also will not remain,” he said.

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan directed the state DGP to take stringent measures to investigate the incident and ensure the safety of contesting candidates and campaigners during the election period.

“Violence has no place in democracy, and such incidents are a threat to the democratic process,” Soundararajan was quoted as saying in a Raj Bhavan statement.

The BJP and the Congress also condemned the attack.

“No political leader should face this kind of violence,” Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief A Revanth Reddy and BJP’s state unit chief G Kishan Reddy said in separate statements.