Harish Rao hits back for dragging his name into the Etala episode

HYDERABAD: Finance minister T. Harish Rao finally broke his silence on Saturday on the Etala Rajendar episode in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). Harish Rao has been maintaining complete silence on this issue ever since Rajendar was dropped from the Cabinet on May 4.

But, on Saturday, Harish Rao strongly condemned the repeated attempts of Rajendar to drag him into the latter’s problems during press conferences.

Rajendar had been claiming that Harish Rao had also faced several
humiliations in the TRS. Harish Rao issued a statement rubbishing the
allegations made by Rajendar.

Harish came down heavily on the former minister for repeatedly dragging his name to garner support from the people. He termed Rajendar's attempts to drag his name into the issue as a “failed and distasteful” attempt and said there was no truth at all in Rajendar’s words.

Harish Rao said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was not only his party president, but was also his teacher and guide as well as a father-figure to him. "I have repeatedly said this on many occasions and would like to clarify once again. I will follow the orders of KCR until my last breath and will never cross the line,” he said.

He asserted that he was duty-bound to obey the orders of the party
president.

He declared that he was a committed, loyal and disciplined worker of the TRS and had been working to achieve the party’s goals since the TRS was founded in 2001. He further said it was his duty as well as responsibility to complete any task assigned to him by the party and its leadership.

He said Rajendar might have many reasons to leave the party and it was his decision to stay or quit the TRS, but his absence would not make any difference to the party. “The opportunities given to Rajendar by the party were greater than the services he rendered to the party,” he said, adding that resigning from the party membership and the MLA post was a decision taken by Rajendar himself.