Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday compared the Lok Sabha poll results to the traditional ‘Ugadi pachadi’, which offers a blend of different tastes, including sweet, sour, salty and bitter, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should quit and stay away from the PM post. The Lok Sabha poll results showed a rejection of Modi’s leadership, he said.
“The BJP’s slogan of ‘Modi guarantee’ was met with the people’s verdict that his warranty has expired,” he said, also stating that Lord Ram had taught the BJP a lesson for “begging votes” in his name and resorting to religious politics. He noted that the BJP-led NDA received 42.9 per cent of the total votes polled, almost equal to the INDIA bloc’s 41.1 per cent share.
Earlier, stating that the Congress’s vote share rose to 41 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls from 39.5 per cent in the recent Assembly elections, Revanth Reddy said this was the outcome of Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra and the implementation of key promises within the first 100 days of the Congress rule. He also called the party’s victory in the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly bypoll as a significant achievement and promised to deliver on the party’s promises.
“Like I said before the Lok Sabha elections, these results are a referrendum to the Congress’ six-month governance,” he
added.
The Chief Minister also accused the BRS of helping the BJP in securing eight parliamentary seats in Telangana. He alleged that the BRS fielded weak candidates against the BJP in the recent Lok Sabha polls to prevent the Congress from winning a majority of seats in the State. Alleging that top BRS leaders deliberately diverted their party votes to the BJP, he pointed out a significant drop in BRS’s vote share from 37.5 per cent in the Assembly elections to just 16.5 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls, while the BJP’s vote share rose from 13.9 per cent to 35 per cent within a short span.
“The BRS leadership mortgaged the self-respect of their MLAs to the BJP and turned suicidal, ensuring the Congress could not secure a majority,” he said.
On the new government in Andhra Pradesh, Revanth Reddy hoped that it would prioritise the people’s welfare. He said he was not averse to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP government in Andhra Pradesh, if invited.
He assured that the Telangana government would maintain friendly relations with Andhra Pradesh and prioritise resolving long-pending State bifurcation issues. He reaffirmed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to granting special status to Andhra Pradesh, emphasising that the Congress party is dedicated to fulfilling its promises.