Revanth Reddy said the Congress would not allow the deletion of genuine voters to go unchallenged and would continue its agitation until all eligible voters were restored to the electoral rolls.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday met AICC leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at the Barakhamba police station in Delhi. He expressed solidarity with Gandhi after the Delhi police detained him during a protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Revanth Reddy, who left for Delhi to express solidarity with Rahul Gandhi, proceeded to the police station but was initially obstructed by Delhi police from meeting him. He was later permitted to enter the police station and meet Rahul Gandhi. Keralam Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan also met Rahul Gandhi along with Revanth Reddy.
Speaking to media persons outside the police station, Revanth Reddy said the Congress would continue its fight under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, demanding that the SIR exercise be withdrawn and CEC Gyanesh Kumar resign over irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
"Hundred years ago, the country witnessed the 'Simon Go Back' movement. Now, the 'SIR Go Back' movement is being carried forward," Revanth said.
He alleged that the detention of Rahul Gandhi exposed the "intolerance" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah towards opposition protests. The BJP government had earlier allegedly misused central agencies such as the income-tax department, enforcement directorate and CBI to target opposition parties and their leaders and was now using the Election Commission for the same purpose, he alleged.
"Instead of taking action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over irregularities in SIR, why is Rahul Gandhi being punished for demanding restoration of votes that were illegally deleted?" Revanth asked.
He alleged that crores of voters had been removed from electoral rolls under the SIR exercise and accused the BJP of conspiring to remove SCs, STs and minority communities from the electoral rolls. The Modi-Amit Shah duo was seeking to win elections through "vote chori", he alleged, demanding that every vote deleted under SIR be restored.
Revanth Reddy said the Congress would not allow the deletion of genuine voters to go unchallenged and would continue its agitation until all eligible voters were restored to the electoral rolls.
Referring to the farmers' agitation, the Chief Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been forced to withdraw the controversial farm laws in 2021 and apologise to farmers following prolonged protests across the country. A similar situation would arise over SIR, he said, asserting that the Centre and the Election Commission would ultimately be forced to withdraw the exercise.
Revanth Reddy said the Congress would intensify its campaign against SIR under Rahul Gandhi's leadership and continue to demand accountability from the Election Commission. He reiterated that the Congress party's immediate demands were the withdrawal of SIR, restoration of all deleted votes and the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
