Rahul Gandhi asks Vanteru Pratap Reddy to beat KCR in his own bastion

Hyderabad: Congress president Rahul Gandhi exhorted party candidate Vanteru Pratap Reddy to work hard to defeat caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in his home constituency Gajwel in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Pratap Reddy, who is aspiring for a ticket from Gajwel, met Mr Gandhi at his residence in Delhi on Saturday evening and explained the political situation in the constituency. Congress leaders are confident about winning the seat as Mr Pratap Reddy was the runner-up in the 2014 elections against Mr Chandrasekhar Rao with less than 20,000 votes when he contested on a Telugu Desam ticket. The Congress candidate then got about 34,000 votes. Senior leaders are of the view that the alliance of Congress and Telugu Desam would easily take on the caretaker Chief Minister.

Speaking to mediapersons, Mr Pratap Reddy said, “The Congress president is confident about victory in Telangana. Rahul Gandhi directed me to work hard to defeat KCR in his constituency.”

He said Mr Chandrasekhar Rao was taking credit for the Congress’ help in achieving statehood for Telangana.

Mr Pratap Reddy added, “The people are observing how his family looted the state. Mr Rahul Gandhi said that a person like KCR should not become the Chief Minister again, as it is not good for the people of Telangana state.”