HYDERABAD: AICC general secretary and Telangana in charge Manikrao Thakre on Sunday dismissed speculation that Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar may be appointed as the in-charge for Telangana elections.
Speaking after meeting CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in Nalgonda during his padayatra on Sunday, Thakre said that the Congress would utilise Shivakumar for the election campaign in Telangana, as done with Chief Ministers and leaders from other states for the Karnataka polls.
Thakre said that Bhatti’s padayatra had succeeded in strengthening the Congress, energising the party cadre and giving confidence to the people.
At the same time, he accused the BRS of misusing public funds and looting the state. “Who gave the Chief Minister the authority to spend hundreds of crores of public funds to give advertisements to media in other states to publicise about BRS government and his so-called achievements? It was deplorable that Chandrashekar Rao was using the money looted from Telangana people to set up and inaugurate BRS offices in other states,” Thakre said.
Thakre did not spare the BJP either, accusing it of forming a political nexus with the BRS. “Why are central agencies like CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax not investigating the corruption and irregularities of BRS government and KCR? That is because BJP and BRS maintain a clandestine friendship,” he said.
Thakre accused the ruling party of forcibly seizing lands distributed to the poor during Indira Gandhi’s regime and allotting the same to the rich and the influential. He said the Rythu Bandhu assistance was only benefiting landlords.
Speaking on the occasion, Mallu Bhatti said that his padayatra from Adilabad to Khammam continued irrespective of the vagaries of the weather, to highlight the hardships and despair of the people to the world. He said that the padayatra helped shine the light on “false propaganda unleashed by the Chief Minister and his ministers.”
