HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said that the BRS sacrificed itself to help the BJP win eight Lok Sabha seats in the state and as a result, lost deposits in seven segments that the saffron party secured.
The chief minister, along with newly elected Congress MPs and his party colleagues, addressed the media at his residence. Indirectly referring to BRS MLA and former minister T Harish Rao, he said: “If you want to turn yourself into a suicide bomber, you will soon fade out [of politics].”
Recalling that the Congress had seen the Lok Sabha elections as a referendum on its 100-day rule in the state, he said: “People have given their mandate by increasing our vote share from 39.5 per cent in the Assembly elections to 41 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls. It was a satisfactory performance and the party won more seats than expected.”
Citing poll statistics, Revanth said that the BJP got significant votes even in the BRS citadels of Siddipet and Gajwel.
“The BJP’s vote share, which was 13.9% in the last Assembly elections, increased to 35.5% in this LS elections. Starting from 2001, when KCR left the TDP, till 2023, the BRS secured a majority of 25,000 to 1.25 lakh votes in the Siddipet Assembly constituency in every election. However, in this Lok Sabha polls, the BRS’ majority in Siddipet was just 2,500 votes. Harish Rao diverted his party’s votes to the BJP to ensure our candidate Neelam Madhu was defeated,” he alleged.
“The BRS sacrificed itself and donated its organs to the BJP, and mortgaged the self-respect of its MLAs to help the BJP win,” the CM added.
Responding to BRS working president KT Rama Rao’s statement that the pink party will rise from the ashes like a phoenix, Revanth said: “The BRS has been reduced to ashes. There is no question of it rising again.”
Stating that the people have rejected Modi’s guarantee, Revanth demanded that the prime minister step down from his post.