Advantage TRS? ECI defers Dalit Bandhu till Huzurabad bypoll
HYDERABAD: Sometimes, sweet are the uses of adversity. The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) order to the State government on Monday to defer the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme in Huzurabad till the byelection is over, might, after all, help the ruling TRS rather than hurting its political interests.
TRS now has a powerful weapon in its hands. It can shout from the rooftops that it had to suspend the scheme only because those against people’s welfare put a spoke in the scheme’s wheel by lodging complaints with the ECI.
The development has a familiar ring as, ahead of the 1999 general elections, late Congress MP P Upendra petitioned the ECI against the then Chandrababu Naidu government’s Deepam Scheme, and obtained a restraining order from the poll panel, which Naidu used to his advantage and won the election.Following the announcement, SC Development Minister Koppula Eshwar alleged that a political conspiracy was behind the ECI’s decision.