HYDERABAD: The Congress party will form a ‘review committee’ to study the loss at Huzurabad bypolls, particularly in view of the party getting less than 1.5 percent of the total vote share. Briefing media persons following a meeting by PCC’s political affairs committee held at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, the committee’s convener Mohammed Ali Shabbir informed that a review committee will be formed which will soon submit a report to the AICC.
He said the byelection was a battle between two individuals. While CM K Chandrasekhar Rao had spent over `600 crore, Eatala Rajender reportedly spent nearly `300 crore during the campaign, Shabbir said. He said the tussle between KCR and Rajender started when Rajender objected to KCR’s proposal to make KTR the next Chief Minister.
Campaign committee chairman Madhu Yashki Goud said the Huzurabad elections were not about anyone’s ‘self-respect’, but rather about protecting hundreds of crores of corruption money. He ridiculed the CM and other TRS leaders’ allegations of Congress supporting BJP in the bye-election, saying the Congress would never ally with the BJP under any circumstances.
Goud added that AICC in-charge Manickam Tagore had directed party leaders to restrain from making media statements on the party’s affairs, and had said they must be raised only in the party forum.AICC spokesperson Dasoju Sravan alleged that the Election Commission of India ignored complaints lodged by Congress over misuse of power, and distribution of money and liquor among voters.
“This was a contest between Eatala’s ‘self-respect’ with a price-tag of `500 crore and KCR’s politics and pride worth `5,500 crore. These elections have set a new benchmark for contesting candidates, who should now onwards have a minimum of `500 crore,” Sravan added.