HYDERABAD: A day after senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah dared the TRS to go for early Assembly polls, the ruling party in the State ruled out such a possibility. “The Assembly elections will be held as per schedule. We are ready for the polls if Lok Sabha is dissolved and the BJP decides to go for early polls,” TRS working president KT Rama Rao said here on Sunday. During a public meeting on Saturday, Amit Shah had said: “We are ready to face the elections any time. Announce polls tomorrow if you want.”
Responding to Shah’s statement, Rama Rao said that “the TRS was ready, if they (the BJP) come forward for early polls after dissolving the Lok Sabha.” Rama Rao averred that the “single engine” government would be defeated in the next polls. People were ready to throw the Modi government into the dustbin, he said while reiterating that the Assembly elections would be held as per the schedule in the State.
Another meeting with PK
Meanwhile, TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to return from his farmhouse either on Tuesday or Wednesday. In the last two weeks, he met various leaders to fine-tune his party’s strategy. It may be mentioned here that the AICC leader Rahul Gandhi in his recent “Warangal declaration” and BJP president JP Nadda as well as Amit Shah at two public meetings targetted Rao and criticised his government.
In view of this, the TRS chief is expected to launch a counter attack against the two national parties from May 18. He is also expected to meet political strategist Prashant Kishor on the same day. During his meetings at thefarmhouse, the CM is said to have held discussions on Rajya Sabha polls, TRS’ election strategy and the Centre’s decision to not permit the State to participate in auction for open market borrowings. Rao is likely to take crucial decisions on these issues at the earliest.