Hyderabad: State polls will be held as scheduled, says G Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad : Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday said that the Telangana elections will be held as per the schedule; there was no link between the State polls and simultaneous elections.

He made the comments, while replying to a question at a press conference here. Reddy clarified on speculations that the Telangana elections may be postponed till May 2024 because of the simultaneous elections and president’s rule may be imposed in the State till then.

He recalled that the Centre had formed a committee headed by former President and legal expert Ramnath Kovind. The committee will deliberate on the One Nation One Election (ONOE); it will consume a lot of time to come out with a report. The minister stressed that there is no link between the Telangana election and ONOE. The polls will be held as scheduled.

Reddy supported ONOE stating that elections at regular intervals were hampering development. He said election is not the only solution for political parties. Intellectuals should come forward and give their valuable suggestions, he said.

Replying to a question, Reddy said the BRS and Congress will join hands in future. Ruling out any understanding with the pink party, he said his party will not have an alliance with any party which is has a tie-up with the Majlis.

On allegations of not allowing the Congress to hold meeting in the city, Reddy said the Centre has been celebrating the Telangana Liberation Day on September 17 at Parade Grounds, Secunderabad. “Let the Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have meetings every day in Hyderabad, we don’t have any objection,” he remarked.

Regarding release of list of party candidates, Reddy said, “Don’t know which fool has released the list. The party discusses and sends it to the high command. The Central Parliament Board will decide the candidates and finally announce the list.”

The minister said alliance with the Telugu Desam and Jana Sena will be dealt with by the Andhra Pradesh unit of BJP and the central party.

Reddy said the investigating authorities should have maintained restraint while arresting the former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Chief N Chandrababu Naidu. He said authorities should have followed the norms. ‘He has been the Chief Minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. The basic rules should have been followed, like sending notices and following all procedures before making the arrest.

“The Central agencies had arrested a deputy chief minister in Delhi following all due procedures, like giving notices and finally made the arrest. There were no protests when the deputy CM was arrested,” recalled Reddy.

The minister said the party had nothing to do with the ED summons to BRS MLC K Kavitha. ‘The BJP is nowhere concerned with the functioning of ED. “I don’t even know that Kavitha was issued summons. I got to hear from you people. The BJP has nothing to do with the ED summons,” he asserted.