Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, at a public rally in Maheshwaram in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana said “support of terrorism was a bad game”, urging that “everyone should oppose terror” and “avoid indulging in this game.” While he did not refer to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, he did go on to mention the strong retaliatory action taken by the Indian government after the terror attacks in Pulwama and the strong stand taken against terror by the Modi government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first heads of government to express solidarity with Israel after the terror attacks on that country by Hamas. The Congress had, in its working committee, also emphasised the need for a political solution to the Israel-Palestinian issue and its statement had avoided mentioning Hamas.
While he chose to speak on terror in Maheshwaram, it was the Huzurabad Assembly seat, the site of a keenly contested bypoll after sitting MLA Eatala Rajender left the Bharatha Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to join the BJP in 2020, was chosen by Mr. Singh to begin his campaign for Assembly polls in Telangana and launch a scathing attack on the BRS on the issue of corruption and the Delhi excise case.
The BJP is yet to declare candidates for the Assembly polls in Telangana (with a meeting of the Central Election Committee likely on October 19) but that didn’t stop Mr. Singh from canvassing for Mr. Rajender, chief of the BJP’s election management committee.
“Tales of the BRS government’s corruption are not just being heard in Telangana but also in Delhi, and let me tell you also that there is no smoke without fire,” said Mr. Singh, alluding to the Delhi excise policy scam and allegations against BRS MLC K. Kavitha, without naming either.
Slams ‘family rule’
Mr. Singh also attacked the “family rule” of the K. Chandrashekhar Rao government. He said that while there was not anything wrong per se if family members got active in politics, “but the way the KCR family is using political influence and running interference, it amounts to abuse of power leading to corruption.” The Defence Minister said that while the people of the State want the Telangana government to espouse the “State first, nation first” policy, the BRS government was all about “family first”. “Telangana’s governance not just limited but private limited,” he said.
Mr. Singh said “this was the reason” Mr. Rajender walked out of the BRS government despite being a Minister. He declared that Mr. Rajender was to be commended for prevailing over the BRS in the Huzurabad bypoll of 2021, “despite the fact that the BRS had tried everything in terms of throwing money at the voter to defeat him”.
The formation of a separate State of Telangana, he said, wasn’t just something that the BRS was to be credited for. “The BJP was very much part of that demand, while the Congress made a mess when the time came to separate the two States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, something that the people of the State are still having to deal with,” Mr. Singh said.
In Maheshwaram, which falls in Ranga Reddy district, posters of Andala Sriramulu Yadav with Mr. Singh dot the ground of the public rally. Mr. Yadav was the BJP candidate in 2018 and is hoping to get the seat this time round as well. “It’s true that tickets haven’t been declared, but it’s understood,” said one supporter, which may be news to the BJP high command in Delhi. Mr. Singh was gifted a goat as is considered customary during Dasara among the Yadav community in the area.
His bemusement at being handed a goat notwithstanding, Mr. Singh was upfront in attacking the BRS government on corruption, family rule and what he termed the “betrayal” of the State, of making promises on providing jobs and houses and going back on them.
“What have you done for Telangana? Barring possibly Hyderabad, Telangana has not seen development. Only one party, BRS and State Chief Minister KCR is responsible for this,” he said.
He contrasted the Modi government’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on welfare programmes, cutting out the middle men was a sign of the government working to set up systems “since it is systems that root out corruption.”
