TRS Ministers, MLAs worried about losing ground to BJP in districts?

Hyderabad: State BJP sees the ongoing tussle between the BJP-TRS in Janagaon district as an outburst of stressed TRS legislators and leaders; in turn, it would help the party in the ensuing Munugodu by-poll.

It may be mentioned that the flexi and hoardings war in Devaruppala village in Janagaon created tension among

the cadre of warring TRS-BJP on Thursday. The felxies and hoardings were reportedly put up at the behest of the local MLA Mutti Reddy Yadagiri Reddy, posing several questions to State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar.

The MLA wanted Bandi to answer whether any BJP-ruled State was taking up the schemes implemented in Telangana under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Besides, he wanted the BJP MP to bring funds to State as recommended by the NITI Ayog. "Sanjay Kumar should enter the district only when he could answer his questions".

However, BJP leaders claim that from the TRS supremo, ministers, MLAs and others of the ruling party are peddling the same rhetoric. "Everyone targets the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NITI Ayog, Central funds, and special status to the irrigation projects. In contrast, the State BJP chief sits with people rolling details of crores of rupees of funds that the Centre has released to each assembly segment he is passing through. They include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGS), plantation programme, housing, pensions, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, individual toilets, free ration to the poor besides, combined subsidy the Centre bearing of about Rs 40,000 crore per acre per year.

The ruling party leadership from State to gully level seek to woo people on Centre-State relations, secularism, communalism, federalism, devolution of funds to States. The BJP is steering a very localised version of rhetoric to strike a chord with people, giving details of funds that they could feel and understand.

The silence of local ruling party MLAs and leaders to counter the BJP claims has turned into advantage to the saffron brigade to intensify its footprint, causing worry to the legislators and leaders. Because the ruling party leaders are on a back-foot when it comes to explaining funds released to their respective constituencies by the State government, they have no answer when Bandi asks them why their constituencies could not get funds, on a par with those represented by the CM, KTR, Finance Minister T Harish Rao and a few others.

Also, the flexi-hoarding war and police asking traders to shut shops made the State BJP chief openly charge the TRS leaders and police acting in tandem to spoil the peaceful ongoing Praja Sangrama Yatra.

State BJP general secretary Gujjala Premender Reddy charged that the police are acting on the diktats of the

ruling party and filing false cases against the BJP cadre and leaders. He said the BJP leaders and cadre were attacked at the behest of the local TRS MLAs and leaders. The police forced traders to shut shops on the Nelletla-Janagaon road. This was to prevent people from coming to attend Bandi's public meeting at Janagoan Crossroads.

BJP leader Dr Dasoju Sravan alleged that the TRS 'rowdy' politics cannot stop rise of the party in Telangana. "TRS leaders are resorting to attacks on Bandi Sanjay's pada yatra as they are unable to digest the growing popularity of BJP in Telangana", he claimed.