Union minister Amit Shah slammed the K Chandrashekar Rao government in Telangana, declaring that its "countdown has begun". "We will uproot the KCR government. After the next election there will be a BJP chief minister," he said at a public meeting in Munugode, around 85 km from Hyderabad, where by-elections are being held. The by-poll became necessary after the sitting MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy switched from the Congress to the BJP and resigned.