Ahead of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, war of words between political competitors is also getting intense. In one such incident, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at a BJP leader who in a statement talked about conducting a surgical strike in old city if they wins polls.
Slamming the BJP leader, Asaduddin Owaisi said, "A BJP leader said that if they win elections (GHMC) then they'll do surgical strike in the Old City to remove Pakistanis, Rohingyas from there. All those living here are citizens of India. I give you 24 hours to tell how many Pakistanis live here?"
Owaisi's remark has come after Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay in a statement said, "TRS & AIMIM trying to win GHMC polls with Rohingyas, Pakistani & Afghanistani voters. GHMC polls should be conducted without voters from Pakistan, Afghanistan & Rohingyas. We will do a surgical strike in Old City once we win the polls."
Campaign for civic polls gains momentum
With barely a week to go for elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), campaigning gathered momentum with leaders of major parties hitting the roads to woo voters.
Top leaders of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are vying with each other in meetings, rallies, road shows and door-to-door campaigns.
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The TRS is much ahead of its rivals in the campaigns with dozens of its leaders including ministers, MPs and state legislators reaching out to voters, seeking a fresh mandate to continue the development and welfare programmes in the state capital.
Elections on December 1
Elections to 150-member GHMC are scheduled to be held on December 1. Over 74 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes to elect the new civic body.
The TRS, which had captured power in 2016 with a landslide majority of 99 seats, is confident of retaining power to ensure "uninterrupted growth" in Greater Hyderabad, considered as the economic engine of the state.
Spearheading the campaign is TRS Working President and Industry, Information Technology, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao. By addressing series of meetings and road shows every day, he is leading the campaign from the front.
The TRS manifesto, which was released on Monday and promised free drinking water among many sops, provided new push to the ruling party's campaign. "Development is our agenda. We have no other agenda," said Rama Rao at one of the meetings while stepping up attack on the rivals.
With the BJP emerging as the main rival for the TRS, at every rally, KTR, as the minister is popularly known, is calling up on people to decide whether they want a peaceful city marching ahead on the path of development or a city filled with communal tensions and anarchy.
Lending full support to KTR in the campaign is his sister and state Legislative Council member K. Kavitha, who is mounting a scathing attack on the BJP. It is still not clear if their father and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will campaign in these elections or not.
Addressing a meeting at party headquarters last week and during the release of party manifesto on Monday, KCR set the tone for the campaign.
On the other hand, upbeat over its recent victory in by-election to Dubbak Assembly seat, the BJP is running an aggressive campaign to wrest the key civic body to emerge as the viable alternative to the TRS.
Giving a boost to BJP campaign, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar landed in the city on Sunday. He released the party's charge sheet against the TRS government.
The document lists 60 failures of TRS government during last six years and the plight of Greater Hyderabad under the TRS. It also mentions the unfulfilled promises made by the ruling party in the previous elections.
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