HYDERABAD: BJP state president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar's assertion that the BJP would order a surgical strike on the Old City in Hyderabad to flush out Rohingyas and Pakistanis living there illegally, after it is elected to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), has triggered an angry response from the TRS.
Addressing an election rally, Sanjay Kumar said that once the BJP captures the GHMC and its candidate becomes the mayor, the first task would be to drive away the Pakistanis and Rohingyas. "We will conduct a surgical strike on the Old City," he said.
Taking serious exception to Sanjay Kumar's words, TRS working president and Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao wondered whether Sanjay had gone completely insane for a few votes and seats. In a tweet, Rama Rao, tagging Union Minister of state for Home G Kishan Reddy, asked whether he would condone his colleague's 'reprehensible and hate-filled' statement.
“You want to conduct surgical strikes for votes? If you can, conduct surgical strike on poverty, employment, backwardness, religious bigotry, those who commit atrocities on women and those who ruined the country’s economy. You are incapable of doing it. That is why the people have decided to conduct a surgical strike on you,” Rao also tweeted.
Sanjay Kumar, while speaking at a roadshow, said the “Bhagyanagar elections” should be held without the votes of Rohingyas and Pakistanis.
He also countered the remarks of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, saying, “The other day, Owaisi asked what was the Centre doing if Rohingyas were in Hyderabad. After the BJP wins the Mayor's post in this election, BJP will conduct surgical strikes on the Old City and kick out Rohingyas and Pakistanis.”
Asking the gathering to vote for the BJP, he said, “I appeal to you to understand what sort of incidents would take place if the AIMIM takes over the Hyderabad Mayor's post. If you do not want a repeat of Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park blasts in Hyderabad, vote for BJP as only BJP is capable of preventing such attacks.”
Asserting that the BJP will stand for the unity of Hindus, he said, “It is the party which actively arrested cow slaughter.” Launching an oblique attack on TRS working president Rama Rao, he said, “One leader was alleging that the BJP was trying to create communal unrest when I went to the Bhagyalakshmi Temple at Charminar. I am asking him whether the Bhagyalakshmi Temple is located in Hyderabad or Pakistan.”