National BJP OBC Morcha president K. Laxman demanded Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development and TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao to resign “accepting moral responsibility” for the poor civic amenities in twin cities and for the performance of his party in the GHMC polls.
“If KTR truly believes in value based politics or ethics, he should quit as he has totally failed both as a municipal minister and as the working president. Whether it was in providing relief and rehabilitation during the recent floods or providing succour to people during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been found wanting,” he charged at the ‘Meet the Press’ organised by the Telangana Journalists’ Union at Press Club on Sunday.
Mr. Laxman, also the party in-charge during the polls for election management committee, claimed he would have quit his post if his party did not fare well. “We had to fight not only against the TRS-Majlis underhand alliance but also against the State Election Commission (SEC) and the Director General of Police (DGP) but people have voted against the new Nizam rule of KCR-KTR,” he said.
Pointing out that the votes polled between TRS and BJP was about 8,450, he refuted that the party had benefited from communal polarisation. “TRS colluding with Majlis accusing us of playing the communal card is like the devil quoting the scriptures. We put out a chargesheet against the government failures in improving civic amenities, constructing 2-bedroom houses, and jobs for youth, but instead of responding, they resorted to disinformation campaign to scare people and divert attention from real issues which did not work,” he said.
To buttress his charge, Mr Laxman said that there has not been a single seat where TRS won against BJP. “Why did the Majlis not contest for all 150 divisions? We have made inroads into Old City too, and will take all sections along to emerge as an alternative in the next election,” he said.
Responding to another question, he maintained that worshipping in Bhagyalakshmi Temple was not for any ulterior motive. “What is wrong in going to a temple? We have our beliefs but it does not mean we are against any community. None of the Modi government schemes discriminate in terms of caste or community be it Jan Dhan accounts, Mudra schemes, or farmers’ welfare schemes,” he said.
“The Centre is holding talks with agitating farmers in Delhi and no Telangana farmer is involved, so the decision of Mr. KCR to support the countrywide farmers’ bandh was for political reasons. The CM is unable to digest the spree of electoral defeats to BJP so he wants to oppose the farmers’ bills. The new Acts had only removed restrictions on agriculture produce and is not against market yards or MSP,” he said.
