Prove popularity, K Chandrasekhar Rao told

Hyderabad: TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday dared Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to go for bypolls in the Assembly constituencies represented by the MLAs who defected to the TRS from other parties, if he believes he is as popular as the recent surveys claim. Addressing a news conference in the Gandhi Bhavan on Monday along with party working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Leader of Opposition in the Council Shabbir Ali, former PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah and former MP V. Hanumantha Rao, Mr Reddy said that the CM has been basking in the reports of surveys organised by bogus, unpopular and unknown institutions which ranked him No. 1, besides stating he is the most popular Chief Minister in the country.

He said when people of Telangana state are disillusioned, distressed, and discontent with the 2.5 year rule of the TRS, the Chief Minister ‘managed a few institutions to bring out fake surveys projecting him as popular, with the sole purpose of misleading the public. “Even assuming that KCR is popular, in such a scenario, how is it that he encourages defections, right from sarpanch and MPTC level to MPs,” Mr Reddy asked.

He said if the CM really believed that he was popular and providing great administration in the state, why was he avoiding bypolls in constituencies that were won by defectors. The TPCC chief said that the Congress was per se against demolition of the existing Secretariat buildings for a new construction. He wondered how the Secretariat, which had served the government of undivided AP, cannot now function for TS. “In the name of vastu compliance, the Congress is against demolition of the Secretariat complex. We demand that the Chief Minister rethinks his decision,” Mr Reddy said.