HYDERABAD: All India Congress Committee (AICC) Media and Publicity department chairman Pawan Khera on Tuesday said that his party will not let Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s attempt to “divide and distribute” Telangana in the upcoming elections.
Interacting with the media here, he said that the Congress will go to the polls with the real issues of people as the main agenda, “unlike the BJP which always peddles a divisive agenda”. “The Prime Minister doesn’t have answers to any questions and that’s why keeps the media and Opposition busy. It’s painful to see a PM trying to divide the people,” he said.
Taking a dig at the BJP leaders, Pawan said that the saffron party is trying to destroy the secular fabric of Telangana, which is a syncretic fusion of Hindu-Muslim culture. He alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently tried to recreate a conflicting situation similar to North East states.
Priyanka’s role
Asked about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s role in Telangana Congress, Pawan said that there are at least a dozen State units which want her to take an active role in their respective States. “We leave it to her. Let her and party president Mallikarjun Kharge decide what role she should play and where,” he said.
Rejecting outright any possibility of entering into an alliance with the ruling BRS in the State, he said that the grand old party will take the BRS head on and defeat it in the elections.Asked about the Congress’ stand on EVMs, he said that the questions on the VVPAT tally and missing EVMs still remain, and it is the responsibility of the government, the ECI and political parties to clarify on the subject.
“The authorities are not following standard operating protocols in using EVMs,” he said, and sought to know if BJP is ready to withdraw ‘Democracy at Risk! Can We Trust Our Electronic Voting Machines?’, a book authored by BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao.