The BRS on Friday accused the Congress and the BJP of "attacking the self-respect of Telangana and its people," with the party working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao saying that the Assembly polls would be "a battle between arrogant leaders from Delhi and Gujarat and Telangana’s pride".
Rama Rao said the effort of the Congress and BJP was to suppress the BRS, and restrict it to Telangana and not allow it to expand into Maharashtra and other states.
"(TPCC president) Revanth Reddy and (BJP state president) Kishan Reddy will dance to the tunes of their leaders in Delhi. Revanth will follow Rahul Gandhi’s instructions and Kishan Reddy will follow Modi’s instructions. Do you want someone who is a puppet of Delhi or a leader from Telangana," he asked.
Addressing a meeting at Telangana Bhavan, the BRS headquarters, where Jitta Balakrishna Reddy, a Congress leader from Yadadri-Bhongir district, and Mamilla Rajender, former TNGOs president, joined the BRS, Rama Rao said it is true the party would provide opportunities to
Mudiraj leaders in Parliament and other positions.
He said had Telangana not granted statehood, there would have been no TPCC or TBJP and no posts for Revanth Reddy and Kishan Reddy.
"Only Telangana is in KCR’s hands while other states are ruled by the BJP or the Congress. Why are those states not getting developed the way Telangana has? And everyone has seen how Rahul and Modi hugged, how they work together and they still try to call us a B Team. Modi says we are the B Team for Congress and Rahul says we are B Team for BJP. We are not anyone’s B Team, we are the A Team for people of Telangana," he said.
These two parties, he said, were scared that Chandrashekar Rao was emerging as a powerful national alternative and their efforts were to undermine his growth. "Neither Rahul nor Modi have any love for Telangana. Their attitude towards the state, and KCR’s leadership should be discussed in every village and it should be explained why KCR needs to return to power in the state," he said.