The TRS on Sunday took serious objection to BJP president Amit Shah’s remark that the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao did not order official celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day out of fear for Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and said it was precisely because Mr. Rao was not scared of anyone that he led a movement which eventually achieved separate Telangana.
At a press conference here, Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao warned that the divisive politics of BJP on communal lines might work in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh but not in Telangana where the TRS government earned a reputation for maintaining communal harmony.
Asking the BJP not to whip up communal tensions in Telangana in the name of Tiranga Yatra, he said the party was free to do it in Jammu and Kashmir.
Frank talk
Separately, the TRS MLCs Palla Rajeswara Reddy and M. Srinivas Reddy said the TRS had always observed September 17 as Liberation Day in its offices as it had recognised the end of Nizam’s rule as a transformation from autocracy to democracy. But, the stand of the party could not be extended to the government.
Mr. Harish Rao asked Mr. Shah to spell out why the BJP did not press the TDP government to conduct the occasion officially when both parties shared power as allies. On the other hand, the BJP gave up its resolution supporting separate Telangana which was adopted by the State unit at Kakinada two decades ago after tying up with the TDP.
The Minister also took exception to Mr. Shah’s claim that the Centre had released Rs 90,000 crore to Telangana government and said the State only got Rs 45,000 crore as a matter of right. It raised double the sum from taxation. He accused the Centre of indifference towards Telangana while pampering Andhra Pradesh with sops as special category status and economic package. What has the Centre given to Telangana? It deleted six mandals of Khammam and merged them with AP., he said. On the allegation of Mr. Shah that the TRS bought over MLAs from other parties with funds released by Centre, he sought to know funding by BJP in the defection of Congress MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh and Congress MPs D. Purandeswari and Kavuri Sambasiva Rao in AP earlier.
