Hyderabad: Telangana state minister and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao has for the first time reacted to ousted minister Etala Rajendar's episode in TRS on Wednesday.
Although Rajendar had been sacked from the Cabinet on May 2 and he quit the TRS on June 12, Rama Rao had maintained a studied silence on the issue all these days. This was even after several cabinet ministers and other TRS leaders attacked Rajendar for his criticism of TRS leadership and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
In an informal interaction with mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, Rama Rao said Rajendar stands not for self-respect but self-deception. He said TRS gave Rajendar many big opportunities, both in party and government. But he had crossed the party line when he openly joined Opposition parties in criticising TRS government's schemes and initiatives while being a minister.
The party working president claimed he personally made all efforts to retain Rajendar within the party-fold till the last minute, but gave up after Rajendar publicly announced that he would not meet the CM at all.
Rama Rao expressed anger at Rajendar for making baseless allegations against TRS and its leadership ever since he joined BJP in June. He advised the former minister to self-introspect as to what TRS has given him and come out openly and explain what injustice had been done to him in the party.
Rama Rao rubbished Rajendar's allegations that the Chief Minister had ordered a land grab probe against him based on a random complaint sent by some unknown persons without any evidence. He said no CM will order for a probe against a cabinet minister in response to a random complaint without obtaining primary evidence.
"Rajendar is just deceiving himself by making allegations that there is no place for self-respect in TRS. He received a lot of respect both in the party and government," Rama Rao maintained.
He stated that TRS had been strong in Huzurabad constituency even before Rajendar joined the party. It will remain strong even after he has left the TRS.
Rama Rao asked Rajendar why he continued in the cabinet if, as being claimed by him, there was a gap between himself and Chief Minister for over past five years. He pointed out that the CM did not take any action against Rajendar even after the latter criticised cabinet decisions in public.
"Despite being a minister, he publicly found fault with decisions taken by the cabinet, instead of expressing his disagreement within the cabinet,” he said.
The party working president pointed out that Rajendar had admitted to all his mistakes on purchasing assigned and endowment lands. This is a clear violation of norms due to which there is no scope for Rajendar to gain sympathy from voters in upcoming Huzurabad by-polls.
