Hyderabad: There will be a coalition government at the Centre this time with all indications and reports pointing to BJP’s defeat, BRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao said on Friday.
Returning to the Lok Sabha campaign trail after the completion of a 48-hour ban imposed on him by the Election Commission of India at 8 pm on Friday, and addressing a roadside public meeting in Ramagundam in the heart of the state’s coal belt, Rao warned that the BJP, if voted back to power, would hand over the Singareni collieries to the industrialist Gautam Adani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friend.
Urging people to vote for the BRS’ Koppula Eshwar and reject BJP’s Gomasa Srinivas who he said was BRS’ primary opponent in Peddapalli, Rao said, “With a coalition government appearing likely, only the BRS can protect the interests and rights of Telangana and its people if 14 to 15 of its candidates are elected to the Lok Sabha.”
He warned that Singareni coal mines were facing a survival threat. “It was the previous Congress government which got loans from the Centre, pushed Singareni into losses, then gave the Centre a 51 per cent controlling stake. Modi will hand Singareni to Adani if the BJP comes to power. And if you don’t vote for BRS, then even I cannot protect you and your interests.”
He said the BJP and the Congress conspired and had the ECI impose a 48-hour ban on him. The ban was imposed on me following an angry reaction to the deaths of weavers, but the ECI stayed silent despite Amit Shah carrying a picture of a God in his campaign, and CM Revanth Reddy threatening bodily harm to him. “The real reason is they are scared of KCR and had the ban imposed,” he said.
