HYDERABAD: Etala Rajendar, a two-time former minister in the TRS government who left the party in power and is currently a BJP MLA from Huzurabad, claimed on Wednesday that the TRS was plotting his murder under the direction of Pragati Bhavan.
Rajendar stated at a news conference that the attack on him by TRS members and officials on Tuesday in Palivela village in the Munugode constituency was preplanned with an intention to kill him.
"The Chief Minister has turned bitter and vengeful against me after I won the Huzurabad by-election. I was campaigning in Palivela, which is my wife’s village. My wife and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy's spouse K. Lakshmi were repeatedly stalked and insulted by intoxicated TRS workers. We're not going to put up with these assaults. The TRS had to keep in mind that I am a member of the national executive of the party in-charge of national policy,” he said.
Rajendar said the Chief Minister will be held accountable if something happens to him because the government issued gun licences to criminals in Huzurabad. “Even during the peak of the statehood movement, we were confident we could return home safely travelling in a single vehicle with no convoy. Now, under the Chandrashekar Rao government, we are not sure if we can return home safely. Yesterday, had my security personnel and my staff not shielded me, my head would have cracked in the attack supervised by TRS MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy,” Rajendar said.
Referring to how TRS leaders and workers obstructed Union Minister G Kishan Reddy’s campaigning, Rajendar claimed Telangana had devolved into a lawless state where even a Union minister could not participate in electioneering.
He sharply criticised Director General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy, saying that "the state's top police officer was not doing his job, and could not even protect his own DSP on duty at Munugode who was beaten up by Palla Rajeshwar Reddy."
‘Won’t put up’
"The Chief Minister has turned bitter and vengeful against me after I won the Huzurabad by-election. I was campaigning in Palivela, which is my wife’s village. My wife and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy's spouse K. Lakshmi were repeatedly stalked and insulted by intoxicated TRS workers. We're not going to put up with these assaults.”
Etala Rajendar, Huzurabad BJP MLA
