‘TRS aims at aiding a BJP victory in Karnataka’

Senior Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao has alleged that CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s proposed election campaign in the Telugu-speaking areas of the poll-bound Karnataka in support of the Janata Dal (Secular) was aimed at defeating the Congress govt. headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who hails from backward classes, and indirectly benefiting the BJP at the hustings. Talking to reporters here on Monday, Mr. Rao charged Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao with making hollow claims on the empowerment and upliftment of weaker sections.

“He did not even attend the 127th birth anniversary celebrations of great visionary leader and the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr B. R. Ambedkar held on Saturday,” Mr. Rao said, alleging that Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao was busy drafting his election campaign schedule in the “Hyderabad-Karnataka region” of the neighbouring State, to defeat a BC chief minister.

The TRS’s support to the JD(S) is intended to split the votes of Telugu people, who constitute a significant chunk of voters in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region and indirectly help the BJP in the ensuing Assembly elections, he alleged.

The TRS president’s attempts to form a “political front” at the national level are meant solely for deriving political mileage, he charged.