KCR tears into Congress, TDP

WARANGAL: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday tore into opposition parties in the state in an attempt to shred their credibility in the run up to the November 21 bypoll to Warangal LS constituency.

Addressing a public meeting at Hanamkonda, KCR minced no words in ridiculing Congress, TDP and BJP leaders who have been campaigning in the constituency for the past few days. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi has fielded Pasunuri Dayakar as its candidate for the bypoll. The meeting was attended by several ministers and TRS legislators.

Though the chief minister spoke about various programmes taken up by the government such as Mission Kakatiya, drinking water supply and uninterrupted power supply to agriculture, he dwelt at some length on the issue of farmers' suicides. "Before the TRS came to power, farmers had to stand in long queues to buy seeds and fertilizers. This government ensured that these were freely available. The suicides are a result of the policies of the previous governments of Congress and TDP," KCR said.

He also accused the opposition parties of paying money to some cotton farmers and encouraging them to set fire to their crops in a bid to malign the TRS government. He blamed the opposition for the recent slipper-throwing incident during deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari's meeting. "Some media also has a role in this. The opposition resorts to such dramas to fool voters in Warangal," KCR said.

Calling on voters to elect Dayakar with a huge majority, he said Congress leader K Jana Reddy had sold himself for a ministerial berth in unified AP. "He (Jana Reddy) launched the Telangana Forum when he was denied a berth in the ministry by the then chief minister K Vijayabhaskar Reddy and sought my support. I sent him back saying you do not have the welfare of Telangana at your heart but only want to be a minister. Sure enough, a few days later, he was made agriculture minister and then disbanded the forum," KCR said. He also criticised former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy for not doing anything worthwhile for the Telangana cause during his term as central minister.

Turning his attention to the BJP, KCR asked state BJP president G Kishan Reddy to recollect what his party leader and Union minister Venkaiah Naidu had said recently. KCR said, "Venkaiah Naidu said that the central government, which was in power for the past 17 months, did not possess Alladin's magic lamp to solve all challenges instantly. So does Kishan Reddy expect the TRS government to have one? If the all-powerful central government says it cannot do everything overnight, how can a state government perform miracles?"

"If I have spoken lies, then punish me. If not, then teach the opposition parties a lesson by ensuring Dayakar's victory," he said.

BJP: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Salman Khurshid behaving as ISIS propagandists

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday labelled Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid as propagandists for the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) following their very public criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"While the world is getting together against terrorism, the Prime Minister's words and agenda to fight terrorism have been accepted the world over. It is in this context the G20 summit has happened. 130 people have been killed in Paris on an open assault to civilization and it seems that these people (Congress) are behaving and conducting themselves as propagandists for ISIS and Taliban," BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told media here.

"When it comes to condemnation atleast Azam Khan's statement was condemned by Samajwadi Party(SP) and they disassociated with it completely, but Congress party has chose to not do so in this context against Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar," she added.

Mani Shankar Aiyar who went to Pakistan before the Bihar assembly polls courted a controversy by saying that Islamabad should help India in defeating Prime Minister Modi and ensure that the Congress is back at the Centre.

Khurshid also during his visit to Islamabad said: "India has not responded to Pakistan's overtures for peace in South Asia the way it should have. If you look back at the first face-to-face between our PMs, your PM took a brave, farsighted decision. What we said and did made things uncomfortable for Pakistan after the visit of Nawaz Sharif at Modi's swearing-in ceremony."

BJP's 'Brand Modi' Strategy to Pay Big in Maharashtra, Haryana, Show Exit Polls

New Delhi: Banking on Brand Narendra Modi is likely to pay rich dividend for the BJP, the NDTV's poll of polls - which aggregates the results of four polls in Maharashtra and three in Haryana - shows.

The party, which dumped allies in Congress-ruled Maharashtra and Haryana to contest elections on its own, is set to be the single-largest party in both states. 

In Haryana, it looks good to win 48 of the 90 seats, a comfortable majority. And in Maharashtra - which saw a four-cornered contest after two major alliances split over seat sharing - the BJP is set to win 125 of the 288 seats, miles ahead of the number 2 party. Ironically, that is the Shiv Sena, the BJP's ally till last month, set to win 70 seats. 

Together, all things equal, they would have had a towering majority. Now, the BJP is likely to fall 20 seats short of a majority - the half-way mark in Maharashtra is 144. 

Its political options would include a reconciliation with the Shiv Sena or then joining hands with the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party or NCP, which is set to get 35 seats. 

In the run-up to the elections, both the BJP and the NCP emphatically denied any such possibility and Prime Minister Modi sharply attacked the NCP, which ruled Maharashtra for the last 15 years as a partner of the Congress. 

Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Narvnirman Sena or MNS is not in the reckoning - it will have to settle for fewer seats than before.

The Congress' dream run in both states is ending. It is likely to be reduced to an insignificant 42 seats in Maharashtra. In Haryana, it could have to settle for an equally ignominious 12 seats, with Om Prakash Chautala's INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) coming in second to the BJP with 25 seats.

The BJP went for broke in these elections, building its pitch around Mr Modi and his message of development. In neither state did it project a chief ministerial candidate and said it was confident that what it calls the "Modi wave" from the national elections earlier this year endures.

The PM averaged three rallies a day in a blitz of 27 public appearances in Maharashtra and 12 in Haryana.

Story First Published: October 15, 2014 20:25 IST