After Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced that he intended to contest from two constituencies — Kamareddy and Gajwel — in the 2023 Assembly elections, Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy launched an attack claiming that KCR has admitted defeat by doing so. Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan, the Congress headquarters in Hyderabad, on Monday, August 21, Revanth Reddy invoked erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao’s defeat in Kalwakurthy in 1989. He said NTR suffered a humiliating defeat in 1989, when he contested from both Hindupur (his stronghold which he retained) and Kalwakurthy (where he lost to Congress’s Chittaranjan Dass), and that KCR would meet a similar fate in the 2023 elections. KCR has represented Gajwel since the formation of Telangana in 2014.
“I publicly mentioned before that KCR will not contest from Gajwel because he is afraid of losing. He has now also decided to contest from Kamareddy. I am certain that the Telugu public will give him a fitting reply,” he said. He also criticised KCR for his choice to contest from Kamareddy, which is also Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir’s hometown where he has contested the previous two Telangana elections and has lost both times to BRS leader Gampa Govardhan. “The very fact that he has chosen to contest from a constituency where a minority leader has hold, is an insult to minorities,” Revanth alleged.
He said that the Congress party will ensure Shabbir Ali’s win in Kamareddy and KCR’s defeat. Shabbir, who lost the election from Kamareddy in 2018 by a margin of 5,007 votes to Gampa Govardhan, is likely to be fielded again by the party.
Revanth also alleged that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had sidelined the Left parties, and asked them to rebel against CM KCR.
He claimed that Congress will come to power in Telangana with a two-thirds majority in the upcoming elections. Revanth also criticised Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao, saying he goes abroad whenever something important happens in the state. He also pulled up BRS MLC K Kavitha for protesting in Delhi demanding that the Women’s Reservation Bill be tabled in the Parliament, but failing to ensure that her own party has fair representation of women.
"KCR is asking the Congress what they had done for the state in the last 50 years. Congress built metro lines to connect densely populated places like Jubilee Bus Station, Kachiguda and Gowliguda. Unlike KCR, our infrastructure has been focused on ensuring that poor people benefit and not on promoting venture capital,” he claimed.