HYDERABAD: BJP MLA-elect Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao said the impact of the Dubbak byelection result would be reflected in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections. “The BJP will get a majority of seats,” he said at a Meet-the-Press event organised by the Telangana Union of Journalists on Monday.
“Hyderabad is a cosmopolitan city. North Indians live in the city. Most of the North Indians support the BJP. We are going to raise the BJP flag over Hyderabad,” he said and claimed that GHMC voters would deliver a shock to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and K.T. Rama Rao.
He mentioned that after heavy rains, the government distributed Rs 10,000 as compensation to the victims but the distribution process was haphazard. GHMC officials directly distributed cash to people, which is ill-advised.
As per government norms, GHMC officials can withdraw government funds up to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh. Raghunandan Rao wondered how the corporation officials were withdrawing around Rs 500 crore, which was a criminal offence.
“We will file cases and the GHMC officials have to respond. Why are they not following online cash distribution to people? The KCR government misused power only to derive advantage during GHMC elections,” he said.
The BJP leader appealed to disgruntled TRS candidates to join the party. The state government filed illegal cases against BJP cadre during the Dubbak byelections. He said some mediapersons had acted as being from the TRS cadre and wrote anti-BJP stories.
“I have not promised to bring Central funds for development of Dubbak during the elections. I also pointed out that the state government does not pay a single rupee to village panchayats.
The 14th Finance Commission released funds to village panchayats. In the same way in our constituency there are nearly 150 village panchayats. I will try to bring more funds from the Centre. The state government diverted Union Government funds and made them seem as state contributions for welfare schemes,” he said.
He said that the Centre had released Rs 2 crore to handloom workers for procuring yarn. But IT minister K.T. Rama Rao had spent Rs 1.25 crore of that amount on Sircilla constituency and the remaining was allocated to Gajwel and Siddipet constituencies. Handloom workers in Dubbak constituency were not given a single rupee, he said.
Telangana Journalist Union state president Kappara Prasad, NIT chairman Dayanand and others participated.
