Hyderabad: TRS working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday said the TRS government headed by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will score a ‘hat-trick’ by winning the Assembly elections in 2023. Citing an internal survey report, Rama Rao said the TRS will win over 90 seats in the Assembly of 119 seats.
Speaking to media here on Friday, Rama Rao said Chandrashekhar Rao will be the first CM from South India to assume office for the third consecutive time.
He said previous chief ministers in undivided Andhra Pradesh, including N.T. Rama Rao, N. Chandrababu Naidu, Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy, could not achieve this feat.
Rama Rao claimed even the two surveys publicised by the Congress and the BJP in the last two days clearly confirmed that the TRS is going to retain power in the 2023 Assembly polls, proving that the TRS enjoys a popular mandate in Telangana even after completing eight years of governance.
The TRS working president stated that the party has been receiving constant feedback on the performance of the state government from political strategist Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC teams.
“The feedback is positive. People favour the TRS for its welfare schemes and development programmes. The surveys also indicated that people want new pensions and ration cards. The CM will soon take a call on issuing new pensions and ration cards," Rama Rao said.
He also made it clear that performance and public acceptance will be the only criterion for the party to give tickets to candidates to contest the next Assembly polls and not other factors like being sitting MLAs, big leaders etc.
He stated that neither the Congress nor the BJP has a strong presence in all the districts. "The TRS is the only party which has a strong presence in all the constituencies. The Congress and the BJP are confined to only a few constituencies. They have no candidates to contest all the 119 seats," Rama Rao said.
The minister reiterated that the Assembly elections will be held as scheduled in December 2023 and ruled out the possibility of early Assembly polls.
Referring to the Chief Minister's recent challenge thrown at the BJP daring it to announce election dates for the Assembly and the Lok Sabha and, in that event, the TRS was ready to dissolve the Legislative Assembly, Rama Rao said, "Everyone knows how the BJP is controlling all autonomous bodies in the country, including the Election Commission. The BJP has the capability to schedule elections whenever it wants. If BJP is willing to dissolve the Lok Sabha, we too are ready to dissolve Assembly and face polls."
Rao welcomed the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's proposed visit to his home constituency Siricilla soon to hold a deekha (demonstration). "I request Rahul Gandhi to stay in Siricilla at least for two days and see for himself how the TRS government has developed towns and villages in the last eight years.”
“Rahul Gandhi should see Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya, irrigation projects, 24x7 quality power, Rythu Vedikas, Vaikuntadhamams, Prakruthivanams, learn a thing or two about welfare and development and try to implement them in Congress-ruled states," the minister said.
Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the "PM of Gujarat", Rama Rao said, "Most of the funds and projects go to Gujarat. He discriminates against Telangana.”
“At a time when Telangana is battered by heavy rains and floods, any PM with a heart will give funds towards disaster relief. But Modi is sending teams to Telangana to inspect MNREGA works by levelling false charges of irregularities in the implementation of MNREGA. We have created assets like Rythu Vedikas, Vaikuntadhamams etc by using MNREGA funds. Is it wrong to create facilities for farmers and people in rural areas using MNREGA funds?" Rama Rao asked.
