I tried my best to retain Eatala: KTR

‘His decision to leave TRS was clear after he announced his decision of not meeting CM’

During good old times: K.T. Rama Rao and Eatala Rajender relishing chicken.

Municipal Minister K.T. Rama Rao said that he made efforts till the last minute to keep former Minister Eatala Rajender in the party fold but the latter’s intention to leave the party was clear once he publicly announced his decision not to meet Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

In an informal interaction with media after presiding over the TRS party general secretaries meeting here, Mr. Rama Rao defended the CM’s decision to order for a probe against Mr. Rajender stating that it was done so with the evidence clearly against him. A Chief Minister will not order a probe based on a complaint from an unknown person, he said.

Mr. Rama Rao said the Chief Minister showed a lot of patience despite Mr. Rajender finding fault with State government’s decisions taken in the Cabinet. “If he claims differences with Chief Minister had existed since five years, why did he continue in the Cabinet,” he asked. Mr. Rajender is making baseless allegations against the party and asked him to introspect on what the party had done to him ever since he joined the TRS.

‘No sympathy for Eatala’

Stating that bypoll in Huzurabad will be between political parties and not individuals, he said TRS was strong in the at area even before Mr. Rajender joined the party. His quitting will not make any difference to the party and there will be no sympathy for him though he is trying to evoke sentiment, Mr. Rama Rao said.

Attacks BJP

Ridiculing the BJP that it was harping on sensationalism with silly political statements, he asked BJP president Bandi Sanjay the reasons for his padayatra. Opposition parties have no issues to fight against the state government and that is why they are raking up the unemployment issue, Mr. Rama Rao said.

Party in full gear

Earlier, Mr. Rama Rao reviewed with the general secretaries the party activities on the political front apart from membership drive, construction of party offices in all districts and working on enhancing the party image.

Speaking to the media later, MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy said that TRS is the biggest regional party in the country with 61 lakh members. No other regional party has such numbers showcasing how strong the roots of the party are. He said digitalisation of membership will be completed soon.

He said the party offices in 24 districts were completed and the work is over 95% in the remaining seven. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao will inaugurate the offices in all the districts. He said there was no alternative to TRS in Telangana given its popularity through schemes like free power for farmers, Rythu Bandhu and Kaleshwaram project. The Chief Minister has announced 50,000 recruitments soon and this would address the demands of the unemployed, he said.