Rahul in Telangana: Congress won't join any Opposition bloc having BJP's 'B-team' BRS

Launching a scathing attack on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (July 2) said his remote control was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and described the state’s ruling party as “BJP’s B-Team” and its new nomenclature, BRS, as BJP Rishtedar Party.

Rahul alleged that the corruption charges against Rao and his party’s leaders have made them subservient to the BJP, and asserted that he told all other opposition leaders that the Congress would not join any bloc where the BRS was involved.

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Addressing a public meeting in Khammam, Rahul said, “BRS is like BJP Rishtedar Samiti. KCR thinks he is a king and Telangana is his kingdom.”

The Congress has always stood against the BJP in Parliament, but Rao’s party has been “BJP’s B-team”, he said.

Also read: If Rahul becomes PM, scams and corruption will become India’s destiny: Amit Shah

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries the remote control of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao,” the former Congress chief said.

Rahul said the Congress party recently fought the election in Karnataka against “a corrupt and anti-poor government and we defeated them with the support of the poor, OBCs, minorities and oppressed in the state”.

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“Something similar is going to happen in Telangana. On one side there would be rich and powerful of the state and one the other side, there would be poor, tribals, minorities, farmers and small shopkeepers with us. What has happened in Karnataka, would be repeated in Telangana,” he said.

The Congress leader said earlier it was said that there was a three-way fight between the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi which is now BRS), the Congress and the BJP in Telangana. “But the BJP does not exist at all in Telangana. Their all four tyres have got punctured. Now it is a fight between Congress and B-Team of BJP,” he said.

Also read: Opposition ‘obsessed with dislodging someone’: KCR’s son KT Rama Rao

Referring to the recent attempts to unite the opposition against the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul said, “We told other opposition leaders if TRS attends the meeting, Congress will not attend it, Congress cant share stage with TRS.”

Over a dozen opposition parties recently met in Patna, Bihar, to put up a united front against the BJP and will be meeting again in Bengaluru soon. The BRS and a few other non-BJP parties are not part of this grouping. He also described Congress workers as babbar sher (lions) and “backbone” of the party.

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“With your support, we can defeat the BRS like we did in Karnataka,” he told party workers.

“We got a huge support from here (Telangana) during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and I want to thank you all for that,” he said.

“During the yatra, we talked about uniting the country. On one hand, we follow an ideology to unite the country and there is another side that is trying to break the country,” the Congress leader said.

“The entire country supported the yatra and said they wouldn’t allow hatred in this country. Khammam has always supported the Congress as it believes in our ideology. I welcome the leaders who have decided to join the Congress today. But most importantly, I want to thank the workers of the party, who are like our lions (babbar sher),” he said.

The BRS “attacked you all but none of you were scared”, he told the party workers.

He also promised Rs 4,000 per month pension for senior citizens and widows, and land for tribals. “This is another step to help the poor,” the Congress leader said.

Rahul did not say anything about the developments in Maharashtra where a big chunk of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP on Sunday switched sides, a development being seen as a major jolt to the Opposition bloc.

“I also want to tell one thing, there are many people who have left the Congress party. Our doors are always open for everyone. Whoever believes in the Congress ideology, our doors are always open for them. But whoever believes in the ideologies of the BJP and the TRS, we do not have anything to do with those people,” he said as a number of leaders, including from the BRS, joined his party.

LIVE: Shri @RahulGandhi addresses the public at Khammam, Telangana. https://t.co/WZDCsLeQwT

— Congress (@INCIndia) July 2, 2023

(With agency inputs)