HYDERABAD: TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday termed the BJP’s move to nominate Droupadi Murmu, who is a tribal woman, for the President’s post as “tokenism”. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi after attending the presidential nomination process of Yashwant Sinha, who is the candidate for the Opposition parties, Rama Rao said if the BJP were sincere about the welfare of tribal residents, they would have established a tribal university in Telangana, permit the State government to increase reservation for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and return the seven tribal mandals, which were merged with Andhra Pradesh, he said.
He recalled that Droupadi, who was a Minister with the Odisha government, didn’t express sympathy with the families of tribals, who died while agitating against the Kalinganagar steel plant in 2006. Rama Rao also pointed out that the BJP government boasted of providing power to all villages, but there was no electricity connection in the village Droupadi hails from.
He said they were supporting the candidature of Sinha in the presidential poll due to the autocratic and dictatorial attitude of the BJP. The saffron party was diluting the constitutional institutions, Rama Rao alleged. He claimed that “Modi’s Constitution” was being implemented in the country.
Saying that he had no personal grudge against Droupadi, he mentioned, “We think Sinha will protect the secularism tenet and work in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. We feel that he is the apt person for the post.”‘Release white paper on funds to TS’
He also demanded that the Centre table a white paper on the funds given by the BJP-led Central government to Telangana in the last eight years before the commencement of the saffron party’s national executive meeting.
Rama Rao said BJP leaders were levelling false allegations against the TRS government while the Centre wasn’t releasing any funds to the State. “Let Prime Minister Narendra Modi release a white paper on the funds or projects given to the Telangana before coming to Hyderabad to participate in the BJP national executive meeting,” Rama Rao said.
Yashwant to visit Hyd
Rama Rao said that he has invited Yashwant Sinha to come to Hyderabad and seek support from MPs and MLAs
‘Modi’s Constitution’
Rama Rao said they were supporting the candidature of Sinha in the presidential poll due to the autocratic and dictatorial attitude of the BJP. The saffron party was diluting the constitutional institutions, he alleged. He claimed that “Modi’s Constitution” was being enacted in the country