Absolutely no question of the Congress having any relationship with the TRS, Rahul Gandhi said.
In a swipe at the TRS' bid to emerge as a national player, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said any leader has the right to imagine his party in whatever way he wants and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is even welcome to think that he is running an international party that is fighting elections in the US or China.
Addressing a press conference here during the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' passing through Telangana, Mr Gandhi also ruled out any alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), asserting that the Congress is diametrically opposed to everything the Rao-headed party is doing.
"There is absolutely no question of the Congress having any relationship with the TRS. The Congress party has made this very clear. This confusion is created by the TRS themselves. I will repeat it clearly there is absolutely no question of any relationship between the TRS and the Congress," the former Congress chief asserted. Asked about KCR changing the party's name from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the party considering itself a national one, Mr Gandhi said any leader has the right to imagine his party in whatever way he wants.
"If the chief minister of Telangana believes that he is running a national party, that is perfectly okay. There is no problem, he can believe it. If he believes that he is running a global party, that is also fine. So these are all things that he can do and he can imagine," Mr Gandhi said.
"He is welcome to think, that 'no I am running an international party', one that is also fighting elections in the United States and fighting in China and other countries, good, we have no problem. We are perfectly happy to accept it," he said.
Mr Gandhi's remarks come weeks after the ruling TRS changed its name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi. This step of the TRS was seen as a bid to emerge as a national force to reckon with, bringing together like-minded parties.
Asked specifically if the Congress will not join hands with the TRS even if the need arises to take on the BJP in 2024 polls, Mr Gandhi said the Congress accepts the opinion of its "combined leadership" in Telangana and its action depends on that.
Pressed on Congress allies like JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar sharing stage with Rao and talking of a coalition to take on the BJP, Mr Gandhi said if Nitish Kumar wants to speak with TRS, then that is his concern, his desire and he is welcome to do it.
"But, for us, in Telangana, we are very clear. We cannot stand with the corruption, the approach and the attitude of the TRS," he said. "The TRS is looting the people of Telangana. It is snatching land away from Dalits and tribals. It is destroying the education system. It is privatising the education system. We are diametrically opposed to everything they are doing," Mr Gandhi said.
Hitting out at the BJP and the TRS for spending a lot of money to win elections, Mr Gandhi said the fact that both these parties are spending hundreds of crores of rupees, the question needs to be asked, where this money is coming from. "Obviously this money is coming from corruption and this money is being distributed blatantly without any regard for any rule... So, it shows the similarity of the two structures. It shows that both these parties steal public money and then use this to influence elections," he alleged.
Talking about the Opposition, Mr Gandhi said the fight in India today is between two ideologies - one that is seeking to divide the nation, spread violence in the nation, and the other that is bringing the nation together.
"The line is very, very clear. I feel, and the Congress party feels, that it is very important that the Opposition works together harmoniously to defeat the ideology of the RSS and the BJP," he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)