KCR may go with BJP either before or after Lok Sabha polls, claims Cong leader

Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy today claimed that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao may go with the BJP either after or before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as he has “no other option”. Reddy told reporters he never considered Chandrasekhar Rao as “secular.

“He (KCR) wanted to go with the BJP during the 2014 elections. But the BJP had a tie-up with the Telugu Desam Party. Now, my opinion is he (KCR) will go with that party before (2019) elections or after elections. He has no alternative. He can not come with us (Congress) as we compete with each other in Telangana. So his option would be only the BJP,” the former Union minister said.

K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, is the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which is ruling Telangana since 2014 after the state was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Jaipal Reddy also alleged that Rao used objectionable language against Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

He, however, claimed that using “harsh” words against the BJP is part of a “game plan” by KCR. “It is not a real fight (between KCR and Prime Minister Narendra Modi). If anybody thinks that KCR is against Modi, then they are mistaken. KCR supported every scheme of Modi including demonetisation,” Jaipal Reddy claimed.

Replying to query on the results of Assembly polls in three northeastern states – Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, he said the region is geographically and demographically different from other areas in the country and hence results vary.