Hyderabad: One leader who is missing in all the hustle and bustle of the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections is the former Minister and MLA Mr T. Harish Rao, the nephew of TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. He has had no role to play in the selection of candidates and gearing up the party for the elections.
Previously, Mr Harish Rao used to be the busiest leader after Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the TRS. He had played a vital role in all the elections in the past but is now confined to his home constituency Siddipet.
TRS leaders, too, have stopped meeting Mr Harish Rao. In the past, any TRS leader who was given any post or a ticket for an election would meet Mr Harish Rao to thank him. TRS leaders are now meeting party working president K. T. Rama Rao and MP Ms K. Kavitha.
After the recent Cabinet expansion, the new ministers met Mr Rama Rao and Ms Kavitha to thank them. However, they did not meet Mr Harish Rao. The new MP candidates, too, met Mr Rama Rao and Ms Kavitha and thanked them.
In the recent Assembly elections, the TRS leadership kept Mr Harish Rao away from the party's core activities for a few days. In the last days of the campaign, Mr Harish Rao was given the major task of defeating strong Congress candidates like Mr A. Revanth Reddy, Ms D. K. Aruna, Mr K. Jana Reddy, Dr J. Geetha Reddy and Mr Damodar Rajanarasimha.
The only TRS leader other than Mr Chandrasekhar Rao who was given a helicopter to tour these constituencies was Mr Harish Rao. He succeeded in achieving the major task.
Following the elections, the TRS leadership has kept Mr Harish Rao disconnected from the party's activities and he has no role in the process of selecting the TRS MP candidates. He has also stopped visiting Pragathi Bhavan and TRS Bhavan except on occasions. In fact, after the Assembly elections, Mr Harish Rao has met even Mr Chandrasekhar Rao only a few times.
Mr Harish Rao is known as the troubleshooter in the TRS and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, too, has said this quite openly several times in the past. However, he no more has a role in government activities or party activities. He is concentrating more on the Siddipet constituency.
TRS candidate for Medak Lok Sabha constituency K. Prabhakar Reddy filed his nomination on Friday and Mr Harish Rao participated in the programme along with other party leaders. On this occasion, Mr Harish Rao predicted a cakewalk victory for Mr Prabhakar Reddy, and said that Mr Prabhakar Reddy will get the highest number of votes in Telangana state.
