Senior BJP leader and union minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, said is 'angry' at chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. While reasons could be many, she zeroed in on KCR not honouring more than half of the 1,500-2,000 youth who committed suicide as part of Telangana statehood agitation.
She said while Rao as CM of the state recognized only about 400 such youth, even for their families he did not fully deliver what was promised by him before he became the CM. The union minister for External Affairs termed the Telangana assembly elections a fight between contradictions and clarity.
Speaking to media in Hyderabad, Swaraj said that political parties with opposing ideologies regarding the formation of Telangana state have now banded together for the sake of winning the assembly elections, as she pitched BJP as the only credible party with clarity that has maintained its stand consistent regarding Telangana.
She pointed out that while the TDP was against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh for the formation of Telangana, now it has allied with the Congress which was in power when the separate state was formed, just for the sake elections. Same is the case with AIMIM which was against Telangana formation but has now allied with TRS that was in forefront of the demand for a separate Telangana state.
Swaraj also attacked Rao for unleashing family rule in Telangana with five members from his family receiving either ministerial positions in the state, getting chance to contest for Lok Sabha or getting nominated from the state to the Rajya Sabha.
Regarding argument by Rao's family members that they earned it by participating actively in Telangana statehood agitation, Swaraj questioned whether the five members from Rao's family were the only ones to have participated in the statehood agitation.
Swaraj also said that it is important to maintain the dignity of language in politics even when one is criticising his political opponent. She pointed out that Rao many times does not maintain the dignity of language and pointed out his recent breach as he called the Prime Minister a liar.
Swaraj has questioned whether it was an 'open secret' that TRS and BJP have a secret pact, pointing out the support that TRS extended to the centre on issues like demonetization and the words praises for TRS
government's performance by the PM in the Parliament. She said there is no secret pact and termed it as a baseless and false allegation.
Speaking on whether BJP's influence was limited only to urban pockets of Telangana, she said the party has influence across the entire state and that's the reason it is contesting in 118 seats in the upcoming assembly election.