Hyderabad: A shrill campaign is on for the high-stakes Medak Lok Sabha bypoll in Telangana, which has been necessitated after the resignation of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of the ruling TRS, with the Congress and the Telugu Desam (TDP)-BJP combine leaving no stone unturned to win the contest.
The Chandrasekhar Rao-headed Telangana Rashtra Samiti(TRS) and the TDP-BJP combine, who have all been engaged in a war of words in the run-up to the bypoll scheduled for September 13, have continued to slug it out, with the campaign getting more dramatic and shriller by the day.
Earlier, the BJP had taken exception to the TRS' charge that its bypoll candidate T Jayaprakash Reddy is an “integrationist” (who was against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh).
Asserting that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre would help Telangana in its development efforts, Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy said here today that the TRS government should take steps in that direction.
Seeking to wrest the Medak Lok Sabha constituency from the TRS, the BJP has fielded former Congress MLA Jayaprakash Reddy, who has been a bitter critic of the TRS and used to be with the BJP earlier.
The BJP's alliance partner TDP has also been trying to corner the ruling TRS-led Telangana government on various counts.
Hoping to salvage its prestige after its failure to come to power in Telangana even after the UPA government delivered on the separate statehood demand, the Congress has also mounted an attack on the TRS and fielded former minister V Sunita Laxma Reddy for the by-election.
Alleging that the TRS government had not taken “significant” development initiatives since it assumed office, Telangana state Congress president Ponnala Laxmaiah referred to a union minister reportedly saying, that no concrete proposals have been received from the state government.
Aiming to retain the seat, vacated by its supremo Telangana Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao, the TRS has sought to counter the opposition.
To do so, state minister T Harish Rao has alleged that opposition parties want the TRS government to fulfil all its promises in merely three months instead of its five-year tenure.
The Medak Parliamentary constituency bypoll has been necessitated after the resignation of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao after he became Telangana Chief Minister.
