Hyderabad: BRS Working President and Minister K T Rama Rao on Sunday attacked the Congress and BJP alleging that both parties have colluded to ensure Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's defeat in the upcoming assembly polls in order to restrict him to just Telangana so that his party cannot spread its wings nationally.
In an exclusive interview to PTI, the suave leader, asserting that the BJP is out of the race in the November 30 polls, said the BRS would win over 88 seats comfortably and KCR is set to become a “hat trick” CM -- the first in the southern states.
Replying to a query, he said though to some extent anti-incumbency is certainly a factor in the upcoming polls, which cannot be denied, in a democracy 10-15 per cent disgruntled or dissatisfied people would always be “okay”.
Speaking about the Medigadda barrage pillars sinking, Rama Rao alleged that the National Dam Safety Authority's letter to the Telangana government on the “damage” is “politically motivated" and said the BJP has been “notorious for abusing and targeting” any state which is basically not politically aligned with it.
“Neither BJP nor Congress like the fact that there is a good chance that a third term is also going to be given by the people of Telangana to KCRji, which will of course strengthen him which will help him grow beyond Telangana and possibly to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra et cetera et cetera.
"Of course it is not to their liking because his growth would be at their cost. So they would like to see that KCR ji is limited and contained in Telangana, if possible defeated in Telangana,” he said.
“This is what their agenda is, so they have colluded in the past and they will collude again as well to ensure that KCR ji is limited to Telangana,” he further said.
When asked why people should vote for BRS for a third term, he said the KCR-led government has done exceptionally well in the two terms, which is evident from the phenomenal growth in parameters such as per capita income and IT exports among others, besides other factors such as social harmony in the state.
“Stable government and able leadership is what BRS offers and that's why people should vote for BRS,” he said, adding “We will certainly win bigger numbers than what we had in 2018. Out of the 119 seats, we had we won 88 seats (in 2018). This time we are confident that we will win 88 plus”.
On the Congress's “six guarantees”, the BRS leader said that that party has “no warranty” and that it miserably failed in the past in delivering basic necessities such as drinking water, power and irrigation facilities. He claimed that the Congress party which came to power in neighbouring Karnataka is now in disrepair, unable to fulfill poll promises.
Replying to a query on why Rao is contesting from two constituencies in the assembly polls, he asked why he shouldn't.
“PM Modi has contested in two seats in the past as well,” Rama Rao said.
To a query about the BJP, he said Telangana state BJP head and Union Minister Kishan Reddy himself could not dare contest in the polls, indicating the situation of the party.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)