Rebel TRS MLA and former Minister Eatala Rajender has accused the Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar of threatening local body representatives of Huzurabad constituency for extending support to him.
Mr. Rajender, who spoke to the media at Huzurabad on Tuesday, said the Minister descended on the constituency ever since he had questioned the party and government functioning. “Where was he all these days? Did he ever visit the constituency and how can he threaten elected representatives here,” he asked. He felt that Mr. Kamalakar should follow some basic etiquette as a minister, and his threats will not work in Huzurabad that always placed self-respect above anything else. He reminded that despite the best efforts of money and muscle politics by the then Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy government, it was the TRS that won in the by-elections to Karimnagar Lok Sabha.
“That is the kind of self-respect people fight for here and it would repeat if and when elections are held here,” he claimed, adding people of Huzurabad would give a fitting reply to those working to destabilise him politically with false allegations and cases. The rebel MLA, who has been recently dropped from the Cabinet by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, said everyone is aware of the corruption of Mr. Gangula Kamalakar in Karimnagar, which he claimed has been turned into a graveyard with illegal mining by the Minister. “After 2023 you will not be in power and this witch-hunting will haunt you then.”
Kamalakar responds
In response to Mr. Rajender’s allegations, the Minister at a separate press conference accused the former of being anti-TRS right from the beginning. “He never wanted TRS to come to power in 2018 and shared his belief with others as well. With such hatred for the party why did he continue in the party?” he asked. By saying that TRS will not come to power in 2023, Mr. Rajender revealed his true colours.
Mr. Kamalakar also objected to certain words used and said he too could get personal with Mr. Rajender. “I am responding as a politician and as a Minister and if I start getting personal too I can go to any length,” he warned. He said he had every right to interact with the TRS cadre in the constituency and he would continue to do so.
On the allegations of illegal mining in Karimnagar, he said let Mr. Rajender demand a CBI inquiry and he would cooperate. The mining was given a clean chit by the authorities much before Telangana was formed, he added.
