The BJP on Tuesday lashed out at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's plans to demolish the existing Secretariat in Hyderabad and accused him of behaving like a dictator.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad on Monday, G Vivekanand, who joined the BJP earlier this week, said, "The way KCR is performing as the Chief Minister with the sole intention of his family's progress, there is a family rule in Telangana. There is a dictatorship in Telangana. He is demolishing the Secretariat, which is an asset of the state and built for 100 years just because KCR wants to be like 'Tughlaq'. We are all opposing it."
Last week, the Telangana government had ordered bureaucrats and officials to shift out of their present offices immediately. The shifting is part of KCR's grand plans for a new Secretariat and Assembly, for which he laid the foundation stone on June 27.
While the new Secretariat complex will be built at a cost of Rs 400 crore by demolishing existing structures near the Hussain Sagar lake, the Assembly building will be constructed by razing Errum Manzil, at a cost of Rs 100 crore.
However, it has not been without criticism.
Read: ‘This is anarchy’: Activists cry foul as Telangana govt readies to demolish Secretariat
Vivekanand resigned from the TRS earlier this year and also gave up his post of advisor to the state government as he was upset after being denied a ticket in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The politician was speaking at an event attended by state BJP president K Laxman to welcome him into the party fold.
"People of Telangana do not believe Congress because if they (Congress MLAs) win also, they are joining the TRS. Henceforth, BJP is the alternative party. The people of Telangana want a democratic state and the family rule (of TRS) to be put to an end. That can be done only by BJP," Laxman told reporters.
While it performed poorly in the Assembly elections held in December last year, the BJP won four seats in the recent Lok Sabha polls in the state, which has boosted its morale.
As the state unit of the Congress is in dire straits, the BJP has been trying to position itself as an alternative to the ruling TRS in the state and said that it will contest all seats in the upcoming municipal polls in Telangana.
Read: How the BJP is making inroads into the two Telugu states, one village at a time