HYDERABAD: Asserting that Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) was against the CAA, party working president KT Rama Rao, however, said on Thursday that there was no need for Telangana to move the Supreme Court against the Central legislation just like Kerala did.
At an informal interaction with the media at Telangana Bhavan here ahead of the municipal elections, Rama Rao, who is also a member of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Cabinet, said that the TRS’ stand on Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was clear.
“Our MPs had explained in Parliament why they were opposing the CAA and then voted against it,” he said and pointed out that the party would think of what it should do going forward at the right time. “Kerala may have thought moving the Supreme Court was the most appropriate form of protest. But there is no need for us to act the same way,” Rama Rao said.
Rama Rao also maintained that there was no need for reiterating the TRS’ stand on CAA everyday, in reply to BJP’s allegation that the TRS, after voting against the CAA in Parliament, was now maintaining silence in the State.
“We enunciated our stand in Parliament where it matters most because there was a discussion on it and that is where our stand is recorded. Nama Nageswara Rao and K Keshava Rao explained at length why the TRS was against it and how unjust it is to exclude Muslims in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,” he said.
Rama Rao said that his party opposed it because there were one too many doubts shrouding the Bill when it was placed in Parliament.
There was no strife when Triple Talaq Bill was passed and Article 370 was annulled. But when it came to CAA, there was uproar over it because it raised more doubts than it had sought to solve,” Rama Rao said.
Why the hurry now?
The TRS’ second most powerful leader, referring to the demand that his party should oppose NRC and NPR, said that the party would take a call at an appropriate time on this. “Till now there was no communique to any State from the Centre on NRC and NPR. When we receive any such intimation, our Chief Minister will discuss it in the party and the Cabinet, before adopting a stand. Why the hurry now?” he asked.
KTR was highly critical of the BJP for calling the TRS a party that dances attendance upon the AIMIM.
“It would be better if the BJP minded its own business than meddling with other parties. The country’s economy has taken a beating. There are tensions between the US and Iran. The crude oil prices and those of essential commodities are going up. Unemployment is on the rise. Let the BJP set its house in order first before peeping into other’s and making irresponsible comments,” he said.
He also lashed out at the Congress party for its politics of collusion with the BJP.
“The two parties, which say they are dead against each other, are in fact working hand in glove. In the Parliament elections, they had done it and now in the municipal polls too, they are at it again,” he said.
Congress delusion
Asked why discrimination was shown in not allowing rallies by the Congress against the CAA, KT Rama Rao said that they should have some sense before applying for permission. “They wanted to take out a rally from Gandhi Bhavan which is just a stone’s throw from the Assembly. Where is the guarantee that Congress workers would not storm the Assembly and wreck the building? We have given permission to AIMIM because their rally was in Darussalam which is away from the central part of Hyderabad. We have allowed RSS route march because it was taken out at Saroornagar. Why shouldn’t Congress also do the same?” he asked. He wondered whether it was befitting the stature of a educated leader like TPCC president N Uttam Kuma Redy to use the most indecent and disgusting language against police commissioner of Hyderabad who is an IPS officer. “The Congress leaders are still in a delusion that they are in power. Though the party is dead, they still believe they are in power,” he said.