NALGONDA: Adding zing to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s (TRS) campaign in Munugode, party working president and IT Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday said he would “adopt” the constituency and develop it on par with Sircilla, the constituency he represents, if the party wins the bypoll.
Addressing a rally in Chandur before TRS candidate K Prabhakar Reddy filed his nomination, Rama Rao said he had been receiving several complaints from locals about bad roads and poor infrastructure in Munugode. To emphasise that he meant what he was promising, Rama Rao said that Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy would oversee the progress of developmental works in the segment and visit every three months.
As Rama Rao’s rally progressed from Burgulagadda to NTR Statue in Chandur, the Minister reminded people that it was Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who had vowed to end the fluoride problem in Nalgonda in 2006 after touring all the mandals in the district. This promise was fulfilled through Mission Bhagiratha and other initiatives after the TRS came to power, he pointed out.
“Even though Krishna river passes through Nalgonda district, previous governments failed to solve the problem of water, be it for irrigation or drinking,” the Minister said.Hitting out at the BJP, the TRS working president urged voters to teach a lesson to Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who had joined the saffron party for “wrongful gains” and necessitated the byelection.
Rama Rao asked what the BJP candidate’s plan was to develop the constituency as the latter had failed to keep his promises to the people made in the last election. “In the last four years, Rajagopal Reddy didn’t undertake even one developmental programme, but would question the government on the payment to contractors whenever he would get a chance to speak in the Assembly,” he said.
Stating that the bypoll was a battle between the arrogance of contractors and self-respect of people, Rama Rao said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t sanction funds for Mission Bhagiratha, but allocated Rs 18,000 crore worth of contracts to Rajagopal Reddy.
Cherlagudem reservoir
Mentioning that the Cherlagudem reservoir will help irrigate over 2.5 lakh acres of land, the Minister asked voters to see for themselves the development undertaken by the government in the last eight years. “What was the situation of Munugode 10 years ago? How has it changed,” he asked as supporters in the crowd nodded in agreement.
“Once upon a time, farmers had to visit their fields at night to switch on the motors to water their crops, but owing to several initiatives such as Rythu Bima, KCR has solved problems that have been ignored by the country’s Prime Ministers,” Rama Rao said.
Flurry of activity
Telangana unit of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided to not field a candidate for the Munugode bypoll to avoid splitting of votes
Pankaj Kumar, who was appointed by the ECI as the general observer for the Munugode byelection, arrived at Nalgonda.
A group of BJP leaders met the CEC in New Delhi. They said Rachakonda CP Mahesh Bhagwat had been working in the same position since 2016 without being transferred, which, they claimed, was a violation of ECI guidelines