Revanth accuses BRS of having a secret pact with BJP

Accusing the Opposition BRS of colluding with the BJP ahead of the bypoll in Jubilee Hills constituency, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that the party was conspiring to try to split votes due to a secret pact between the two.

Participating in the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Yatra Commemoration programme at Charminar on Sunday, the Chief Minister conferred the Sadbhavana award on veteran Congressman Salman Khurshid. Addressing the gathering, he said that the BRS and BJP have maintained a secret understanding since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. “The transfer of 21 per cent vote share to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections is enough to prove the conspiracy politics of the BRS in the state,” Reddy said. He also appealed to voters to foil similar attempts by the BRS in Jubilee Hills, a constituency with a sizeable minority vote, as the Congress fears the votes may be split.

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In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BRS failed to win any seats following its defeat in the Assembly elections just five months earlier, while the BJP won eight seats, equalling the Congress tally. After the results were declared, both AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who had supported the Congress, as well as the Chief Minister, alleged that BRS votes were deliberately transferred to the saffron party at the behest of party leaders.

The Chief Minister also referred to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s contribution to lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 in his address. He also said reducing the age of contestants for MLA elections to 21 was now the need of the hour and assured that a resolution would soon be moved in the Telangana Legislative Assembly in this regard. He also recalled the former Prime Minister’s efforts to uphold national integrity and communal harmony. Rajiv Gandhi had held the Sadbhavna Yatra from Charminar to Secunderabad in 1990 for national unity.