Telangana polls: Congress candidate to be CM, says Chandrababu Naidu

Khammam: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday claimed that he has no intentions to rule Telangana and said that a Congress candidate will become the Chief Minister of Telangana if the grand alliance comes to power in the state after the forthcoming elections.

All set to go for polls in Friday, Telangana has 119 Assembly seats, and 1,821 candidates are in fray. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is facing the grand alliance of the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India and the Telangana Jana Samithi.

“K Chandrashekar Rao is making false propaganda that I will take hold in Telangana. I am not here for that. Only Congress candidate will become the Chief Minister,” Naidu said while addressing a rally here along with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Kodada town of Telangana’s Khammam district.

“I appeal to all to show exit to TRS in the polling to be held on December 7. Make KCR former Chief Minister. Let us defeat TRS and KCR in the elections with huge margins. TDP joined hands with Congress for the sake of nation and democracy,” he added.

Naidu later went on to add that KCR in Telangana and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Centre are ‘dictators’.

“They must be eliminated from power,” he said and added, “KCR is so afraid of defeat. That’s why he is losing cool and temper. He is scolding one and all. There is no response to KCR meetings, but for our meetings, people are coming in huge numbers. KCR and Modi have colluded. Both are dictators. KCR is ‘small Modi’. KCR shakes hand with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in the morning and with BJP in the night.”

Talking about Prime Minister Modi, Naidu said, “Modi is a dictator. His policies are anti-people. Demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax are failures, caused people to suffer. AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi is indirectly supporting BJP.”

The Congress president also criticised KCR and said, “During KCR’s regime, more than 4000 farmers committed suicides. 35 lakhs youth are jobless. You supported only the rich contractors, but not the poor and the needy. KCR changed the names of projects, redesigned them, and escalated project costs. You have stolen 40,000 crores from people and gave to the contractors.

He added, “Telangana people have given KCR a new name – KCR means ‘Khao Commission Rao’. His son’s income increased 400 times. When Telangana was formed, it was a surplus state. But now the state is in 2.5 lakh crore debt.”