Blaming both the Congress and BJP over the current urea crisis in Telangana, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said, in the vice-presidential election, his party would vote in favour of whichever party sends 2-2.5 lakh metric tons of urea for the farmers of the state.
Taking a dig at both the parties, he said unlike them, the BRS, as a regional party, is not controlled by leaders from New Delhi.
Following an appeal from Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to the regional parties in the two Telugu states to vote for retired judge B Sudarshan Reddy, the INDIA bloc candidate for the vice-presidential election, the BRS leader said his party, which has four votes, would consult senior leaders before taking a final decision.
KT Rama Rao said, “We are neither part of the NDA nor the INDIA bloc. We are neither aligned with the BJP nor the Congress. We have fought elections independently in 2014, 2019, and 2023. We have no bosses in Delhi like the Congress and the BJP. We will take a measured opinion of all our party’s senior leaders and then make a decision closer to the election date.“
Telangana is currently undergoing an acute shortage of urea in the Kharif season with long queues seen outside the distribution centres. Accusing the Congress of indulging in black marketing of urea, Rao said, “Since there is a shortage of urea in Telangana and 70,000 farmers are waiting for it, I have an offer for the Congress and BJP. Telangana needs 2-2.5 lakh metric tons of urea. If either Rahul Gandhiji or Prime Minister Modiji comes forward and says that we will send 2-2.5 lakh metric ton urea before September 9, we will consider voting for their candidate.”
After making the offer, he hastened to add that it was his personal opinion.
In neighbouring AP, both the TDP and YSRCP have announced their support to the NDA candidate, CP Radhakrishnan. So would Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena.
The AIMIM with a lone vote is likely to go with the INDIA bloc.