Lagadapati Rajagopal, KT Rama Rao expose each other

Hyderabad: Caretaker minister K.T. Rama Rao provided an electrifying conclusion to the state election campaign by publicly exposing private chats with former Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, in connection with his pre-poll survey. 

The pre-poll survey released by Mr Rajagopal on Tuesday noted that the Congress-led People’s Front would secure a majority if the polling percentage crossed 68 per cent and a hung Assembly if the voting percentage dropped below that figure.

This did not go down well with Mr Rao, who ended up releasing the Whatsapp conversation he had held with Mr Rajagopal in November. The former Congress MP followed suit.

The minister said, “The reason I dismiss Rajagopal’s survey as concocted; his message to me on 20th Nov that TRS is winning 65-70 seats. It’s the same survey he shared today under pressure from Chandrababu Naidu with cooked up numbers. I had no choice but to share this conversation to break the conspiracy (sic)”.

He later stated during a media briefing that he was debating with himself on whether or not to expose the Whatsapp conversation.

Before Mr Rajagopal could react, a conversation with Mr Rao was revealed where he admitted that it was a rough run and he was “mad with dad”, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. 

n this conversation Mr Rao acknowledges that “surveys aren’t rosy”.