Amit Shah dares TRS to name a Dalit as CM candidate
Hyderabad, Sep 15 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Saturday kicked off party's campaign for ensuing Assembly elections by daring the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to name a Dalit as its chief ministerial candidate.
Sounding the poll bugle at a public meeting at Mahabubnagar, he recalled that TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao had promised before 2014 elections that a Dalit will be made the Chief Minister but when TRS won the elections, he himself became the Chief Minister.
"I want to ask KCR, will you fulfil this promise at least this time or will make your son as the Chief Minister?" said Shah.
The BJP chief slammed TRS government for what he called excesses on Dalits, tribals and farmers. He claimed that more than 4,500 farmers committed suicide in Telangana during last four years of TRS rule
Shah said KCR imposed early elections on people though the simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assembly were scheduled for May 2019.
He alleged that TRS stopped celebrating Telangana Liberation Day on September 17 as it is afraid of its friendly party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). He recalled that it was on this day that Hyderabad state had become part of India but TRS government is not celebrating the day to remember the martyrs because it is afraid of MIM and Owaisi.
Referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's statement that the Congress will form the next government in Telangana, Shah said Rahul is daydreaming. He listed the states where Congress lost the elections since 2014.
The BJP leader said people of Telangana have not forgotten the treatment meted out to former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and former Chief Minister T. Anjaiah by the Congress.
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Vijayan calls Congress 'B-team' of BJP amid Rajya Sabha poll results
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday accused the Congress of acting as the "B-team" of the BJP, citing developments in the Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha and Bihar.
"The results of today's Rajya Sabha elections once again confirm the reality that the Congress party functions as the B-team of the Sangh Parivar," the veteran CPI(M) leader said in a statement here.
"While the Congress seeks votes from the people by raising slogans against the BJP, it repeatedly adopts a political approach that opens the door for the BJP's victory at crucial moments," he added.
His remarks came as voting for four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha was held on Monday, with reports that at least five MLAs from the opposition Biju Janata Dal and Congress cross-voted in favour of a BJP-supported Independent candidate.
Vijayan said such developments showed a pattern in several states.
"This is not an isolated incident. In several states, it is the Congress that has created conditions for the BJP to gain additional Rajya Sabha seats through MLA resignations, cross-voting and political manoeuvring," he said.
Referring to Bihar, he said the political situation there had further strengthened the argument.
In Bihar, the ruling NDA made a clean sweep of all five Rajya Sabha seats in the biennial elections held on Monday.
Among those elected were Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Union Minister Ram Nath Thakur, BJP leader Shivesh Kumar and Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha.
According to officials, at least three Congress MLAs and one from the Rashtriya Janata Dal did not turn up for voting, which helped the NDA secure victory.
"Anti-BJP slogans in public, but support for the BJP in practice -- this is the real politics of the Congress," Vijayan said.
"The Congress claiming to be the leader of secular politics while shamelessly helping the BJP is nothing but a mockery of Indian democracy," he added.
