Hyderabad: TD and BJP leaders met at a private hotel here on Saturday to decide on the joint candidate for the November 21 Warangal Lok Sabha byelections but could not agree as to which party would enter the fray.
Party leaders then decided to leave the issue to the party presidents, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu and Mr Amit Shah, but vowed to work for the victory of whoever is nominated.
“The NDA candidate will contest in the Warangal bypoll, we have decided to work together for the victory. You will come to know about the candiate in the next few days,” Telangana TD president L. Ramana and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy told newspersons here.
In 2014, the alliance had put up Dr Parameswar as the BJP candidate. But he recently quit the party and joined the TRS; that election was won by Mr Kadiam Srihari, who resigned after he entered the Legislative Council and the Telangana state Cabinet.
BJP leaders staked claim for the bypoll seat as the seat was “allotted” to them in 2014 and said they would name a nominee in a day or two.
TD leaders said the party has a strong presence in Warangal, and there is no dearth of aspirants. They pointed out that the TD had won the 2008 byelection to the seat. TD leaders offered the Warangal Mayor’s post to the BJP.
But BJP leaders said the TD could not change constituencies to their advantage and should follow the 'coalition dharma'.
With neither side relenting, they agreed to leave the matter to Mr Naidu and Mr Shah. Mr Kishan Reddy said there was an anti-TRS wave in the rural areas due to the failure of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to implement some of the electoral promises like 3-acre land for Dalits, job for one person in every household and free KG to PG education among others.
Mr Ramana said the Warangal bypoll result would be an eye-opener for the TRS.
Revanth is an ‘Item song’
Sharp exchanges bet-ween Telugu Desam Legislature Party leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao and TD working president A. Revanth Reddy marred a meeting at the party headquarters here.
Mr Revanth Reddy sparked the row insisting that he should be informed about all party matters and meetings and even chided party office staffers for not keeping him in the loop,
To this, Mr Dayakar Rao said Mr Revanth Reddy attends party meetings only occasionally, “like an ‘item song’ in films.”
Mr Revanth Reddy dubbed Mr Dayakar Rao an “'informer” of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. There was exchange of words between the leaders before other leaders stepped in to calm tempers.
