Telangana elections: TRS MP’s resignation gives rivals ammo to slam KCR

“TRS will lose because it is not connected with the people anymore. There will a big “blast” within TRS on December 11 (counting day)," Congress said.

TRS leader Konda Vishweshwara Reddy

The resignation of TRS MP Konda Vishweshwara Reddy has given ammunition to political rivals of party chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to target him. Reddy met Congress leaders in Delhi on Wednesday and is likely to join the party soon.
Reddy, MP from Chevella, wrote in his resignation letter addressed to KCR that TRS has moved away from people. “Regretfully, based on multiple incidents, I began to feel especially in the last two years that we as a party were becoming more and more distant from the very people whom we had once represented extremely well. We as a government were becoming inaccessible to the people,’’ Reddy wrote.

Congress leaders latched on to this, saying there is “resentment” against TRS in the state due to the reasons that Reddy listed in his resignation letter. “TRS will lose because it is not connected with the people anymore. There will a big “blast” within TRS on December 11 (counting day). KCR and the government were not accessible or answerable to the people of Telangana who made lots of sacrifices. We have been saying this often and predict the downfall of TRS. In fact, Prajakutami is upbeat because people no longer believe TRS represents them,’’ said Congress spokesperson M Venkatesh Chauhan. Prajakutami is the alliance of Congress, TDP, Telangana Jana Samithi and the CPI.

Reddy said Telangana people expected a lot of development under TRS but it never happened. “The promised development never happened at all, in none of the districts. Irrigation and drinking water supply has not reached most of the districts. In spite of spending crores on reviving lakes and ponds, they turned into marshlands. In Ranga Reddy district, from where I hail, no college or university has come up although it was promised. Land grabbing is rampant in the state. Unemployed youth are extremely dejected and disappointed. It hurts to see this and that is why I am resigning,’’ Reddy said. In his letter, Reddy listed five reasons — “disappointment at a personal level; injustice to party workers who worked for Telangana statehood; injustice at constituency level; state level; party level.”

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“I cannot see any development in the districts. The problem of unemployment continues as it is. Educational facilities were promised in each district but it has not been fulfilled. I fought for the party when it needed me. However, the party has inducted people who were against Telangana and our ideology into the Cabinet and given them more power and prominence. I am powerless within the party and I could not speak out or take action. Furthermore my attempts to resolve issues or at least come to terms with them failed,’’ he wrote.

On Tuesday, KCR addressed four meetings and in all of them, he claimed that he received the result of an internal survey on Wednesday that found TRS was “going to get 80 per cent votes”. Congress leaders were quick to respond that KCR “was trying to boost morale of his party” against inputs that “many party candidates faced anti-incumbency and may lose”.

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Telangana Assembly Elections 2018

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