Former health minister Eatala Rajender dared Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to put him behind bars if he was really involved in illegal occupation of land as he removed him from the TRS Cabinet on this charge.
“What happened to the charges against me? After working for 18 years, he threw me out making baseless charges. Mr. Rao has no morals or ethics and has been running after money since 2014. He has been forced to come out of his comfort zone now because of us. Shouldn’t the CM meet people?” he questioned during the course of his ongoing ‘Praja Deevena Yatra’ on Monday.
Mr. Rajender, now with the BJP, charged the government with hounding his supporters making use of the police and official machinery threatening them with jail on the basis of old cases. “We are not going to be cowed down by your threats or political tricks. I had won six times from here without distributing money or liquor. You (Mr. Rao) can throw as much money as you wish but people will be with those who stood by them during hard times,” he said.
He also appealed to people to stand by him for justice as he alone could not be expected to withstand the full might of the official machinery, liquor lobby and money power.
Ethanol policy
In a separate development, senior BJP leader Gudur Narayana Reddy demanded that the government announce the ‘Ethanol policy’ like Maharashtra and Karnataka which got the ethanol manufacturing units coming up in those states. With public sector oil companies blending the petrol with ethanol, it was being sourced from other States in TS as it was not available.
The Telangana Sugar Mills Association had already requested the government for such a policy two years ago but no steps had been taken. In fact, the ethanol manufacturing units set up had been unable to start the production as the government did not give permissions and the letter of intent, he charged.