Miryalaguda:

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday blamed the Congress party for the knife attack on BRS candidate K Prabhakar Reddy in Siddipet district.

Prabhakar Reddy, the party’s candidate from Dubbak segment was stabbed with a knife allegedly by a 38-year-old man in Siddipet district on Monday while he was campaigning for the November 30 Assembly elections.

“Yesterday, Congress durmargulu (wicked fellows) attacked our party candidate with knives. By God’s grace he is alive. We could save his life by taking him to hospital and treating him in an emergency,” Rao said at an election rally here.

Reddy, who is an MP from Medak Lok Sabha constituency, suffered injuries to his stomach and was shifted to Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad where doctors carried out a surgery on him. He is said to be stable.

Except for doing good to people, his party or the government has not harmed anyone in the last ten years, KCR further said.

Speaking about the law and order situation in the state, KCR said Telangana has been progressing without any law and order problems such as curfews during the past ten years.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Etala Rajender
| Photo Credit: K.V.S. Giri

Youngsters who were involved in Left-student politics full-time for many years rarely end up on the other side of the political ideology spectrum. Even if they do, they do not figure in the higher echelons of the right-wing political parties.

Etala Rajender, who is now making waves for taking on the mighty Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao is one such politician who has traversed from one end of the political spectrum to the other with elan. In between, he also dabbled with business before joining the separate Statehood movement with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

The sitting BJP MLA from the Huzurabad constituency in Karimnagar district of Telangana fell out with his mentor in politics KCR, and is now challenging the lion in his own den in Gajwel, where he is contesting as a BJP candidate catching the attention of all. He hails from the Mudiraj community, which is one of the numerically biggest among the classes in Telangana.

Mr. Rajender entered student politics in the mid-80s attracted by Left-wing politics like thousands of other youngsters during that period. He was an active member of the Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU), founded by the charismatic George Reddy, which had a huge sway among students in the 1970s and 80s, linking up social issues to student politics.

Mr. Rajender’s leadership role came into light when he defeated the ABVP candidate contesting as general secretary of the Students Union elections as an undergraduate student in the Osmania University College of Science, Saifabad, Hyderabad. He aligned with the PDSU faction that was close to Chandra Pulla Reddy, founder of the CPI (Marxist-Leninist).

He continued his tryst with the organisation as a full-time worker even after college and during this period he met his future wife Jamuna, who too was part of PDSU. After marriage, he ventured into the poultry and hatchery business, emerging as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the field.

However, the leftist in him drew him to the Telangana statehood agitation when Mr. Rao founded the TRS. In the very first election that the TRS contested in 2004, he won from Kamalapur (which is now Huzurabad) constituency and served as the leader of the TRS in the Assembly. He emerged as the number two in the party and was made a Minister in the first TRS government in 2014 after Telangana was formed.

By the time he was re-elected in 2018 from TRS, there were reports of fissures with Mr. Rao. One of his famous comments, ‘We are also the owners of the pink flag (TRS party flag)’ reflected the growing differences between Mr. Rao and him.

In an unexpected move, Mr. Rao dropped him from the Cabinet in 2021, charging him with corruption and land grabbing. After resigning from the TRS, he won the ‘high-voltage and high-stake’ bypoll defeating the TRS candidate. It increased his stature in the BJP that made him the Campaign Committee Chairman in Telangana.

Now, the BJP has fielded him against Mr. Rao in Gajwel, grabbing eyeballs.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana, Vikas Raj explaining about the arrangements that are being made for ensuring inducement-free elections, in Hyderabad on Thursday, October 12, 2023.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj has expressed dissatisfaction over the gaps in the arrangements for hassle-free conduct of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The CEO, who took stock of the situation during a video conference, drew the attention of the returning officers and other officials concerned about the gaps that were surfacing in spite of the instructions given by the election authority. He was particular about the complaints received from the people as well as the political parties and asked the officials to convene meetings of the district grievances committees on seizures. The committees should ensure that genuine cases are resolved immediately after taking all the parameters into consideration.

There was a need to prepare foolproof reports relating to the seizures and the Acts under which they were made. Receipts should be given for every seizure and the aggrieved party should be educated about to whom their appeal should be referred.

Director General of Police stressed the need for confidence building measures and insisted that there should be visibility of the police like flag marches.

New Delhi:

Three Lok Sabha MPs, including its former Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, figured on Sunday in the BJP’s first list of 52 candidates for the November 30 state assembly polls.

The BJP has also given ticket to its firebrand Hindutva leader T Raja Singh from his Goshamahal seat after revoking his suspension, effected last year for alleged insulting remarks towards Prophet Mohammad.

Its election committee head Etela Rajender has been fielded from Huzurabad, a seat the former BRS leader represents in the outgoing assembly.

Kumar has been fielded from Karimnagar and two other MPs, Soyam Bapu Rao and Dharmapuri Arvind, from Boath and Koratla.

The BJP has four Lok Sabha MPs from the state. Union minister and its state president G Kishan Reddy is another MP whose name is not in the first list.

The BJP is trying hard to emerge as the main challenger to the ruling BRS with the Congress also putting up a strong fight.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Bharatiya Janata Party said on Sunday it has revoked the suspension of Telangana MLA T Raja Singh following his reply to the show-cause notice issued by the party after a row was triggered by his remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

The MLA was suspended in August and issued a show-cause notice.

“Under suspension, the Central Disciplinary Committee of the party issued a show cause notice to you. This refers to your reply to the show cause notice. Your reply and explanation offered therein have been considered by the committee. Basis your reply, the committee has decided to revoke your suspension forthwith,” Om Pathak, member secretary of the party’s Central Disciplinary Committee, said in a notification.

Earlier, just after his suspension, Singh had told the media that he was confident that the BJP would revoke his suspension soon, and would contest the Telangana Assembly polls from the Goshamahal constituency on the BJP ticket.

He had also ruled out any possibility of joining either Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) or the Congress party.

Telangana is set to witness an intriguing triangular contest between the BRS, Congress, and BJP.

In the previous Assembly elections in 2018, the BRS won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 percent of the total vote share. The Congress finished a distant second with 19 seats and a vote share of 28.7 percent.

Polls will be held in Mizoram on November 7, Chhattisgarh on November 7 and November 17, Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 25 and Telangana on November 30.

The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all the states. Of the five states, polling in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jagtial:

Calling Rahul Gandhi a “paper tiger” and one who does not understand local politics, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC and Chief Minister KCR’s daughter K Kavitha on Saturday continued her attack against the former Congress president as the countdown begins for the Telangana Assembly polls. She also asked the Wayanad MP to reflect on his public statements after Gandhi accused the Telangana government of corruption at a poll rally earlier this week.

“Rahul Gandhi is not a ‘Babbar Sher’; he is a paper tiger. Because whatever anybody writes and gives it to him, that is the only thing he will read and go away with. He does not understand the local situation, he does not understand local politics, and he does not respect or understand the local traditions or culture of this region,” She told ANI on Saturday.

Leaders of the Congress and KCR-led BRS are engaged in a war of words, with the former attempting to return to power in the state.

“Rahul Gandhi, you are a paper tiger. Please come to Telangana, but please review what you are saying in public,” the BRS leader added.

K Kavitha further said that Telangana is a state with the highest political awareness. “Because we fought for our state, we gave our lives for our state.”

“Next time you come here, don’t just go to a ‘Dosa Bandi’ (stall) and eat dosa, but go to the mother of a martyr of Telangana; then you will know the pain, and will understand the issue of Telangana. Otherwise, you will not understand,” she asked Rahul Gandhi.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on October 9 announced that the Telangana Assembly polls are scheduled to be held on November 30. The counting of votes will be done on December 3.

Telangana is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and the Congress in the upcoming assembly election.

In the previous Assembly election held in 2018, BRS managed to win 88 seats out of 119 and had a dominant vote share of 47.4 per cent. Congress came in a distant second with 19 seats. Its vote share was 28.7 per cent.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad:

It is just about a week since the election code came into effect in Telangana, and in just eight days, seizures in the form of cash, liquor, drugs, gold, and silver have crossed Rs 100 crore, according to officials.

In 2018, in the run-up to assembly elections, the total amount recovered was Rs 103.89 crore. This year, the recoveries are set to cross that figure.

The Election Commission has said nearly Rs 56 crore in cash (Rs 55,99,26,994), Rs 2.6 crore worth liquor, Rs 3.42 crore worth ganja, Rs 38.45 crore worth gold, silver and diamonds, other freebies worth Rs 70 lakh, adding up to over Rs 101 crores (Rs 101,18,17,299) has been seized.

Telangana votes on November 30 and the results will be announced on December 3.