Will take responsibility for poll outcome, says TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah

Hyderabad: Telangana PCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah said on Thursday that he will own responsibility whether the Congress wins or loses in the forthcoming elections.

Speaking to the media at a Meet the Press programme, Mr Laxmaiah said the Congress will win 100 out of the 119 Assembly seats and 15 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the Telangana state. He was confident that the Congress will come to power in Telangana, and in fact will do so without any alliance with another party.

He reiterated that the Congress had never asked the TRS to merge or have an alliance. He confirmed in answer to a question that the Congress had not received any proposal from the TRS for an alliance. He said that the Congress has kept its doors open to alliances with those who fought for the creation of Telangana state. Telangana people know who gave them the Telangana state and will not be hoodwinked by tall claims.

Mr Laxmaiah criticised the comments made by TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao on blocking Polavaram project and options to government employees working in Telangana from the Seemandhra region.

Mr Rao had said no “options” should be given to Seemandhra staff to work in Telangana. He also stated that the TRS will not allow construction of Polavaram project in the present form and villages in Khammam district that face the risk of submergence on account of the project should be merged with Telangana against the Centre’s plan to merge them with Seemandhra. Mr Laxmaiah said these statements were made to attract voters.

Reacting to TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s comments on options for government employees of the Seemandhra region, he said that the Telangana Congress will abide by the decision of the central government.