Uttam confident of Cong victory

• TPCC president says the TRS is trying to secure election of its candidate as Mayor surreptitiously
• He dares Chief Minister KCR to see that the Mayor is elected by corporators only without allowing ex-officio members to take part

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday dared Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to ensure that the Mayor is elected by corporators without allowing ex-officio members to take part in the process.

Participating in the Meet-the-Press programme organised by the TUWJ at Somajiguda Press Club here, Uttam Kumar Reddy claimed that the TRS had been trying to ensure the election of its candidate as Mayor surreptitiously.

He was confident that the Congress would win in the GHMC elections and its candidate would become the Mayor. Responding to Minister for Panchayat Raj K T Ramarao’s challenge that he would resign as Minister in case of his party faring poorly, the TPCC president said “KTR will not lose anything even if he resigns as Minister because all posts are cornered by his family.

The Congress party is not a family party. Congress party is not a centralised party.” He alleged that the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was a narrow-minded politician and he would not hesitate to resort to manipulative politics to secure political gain.

“It was expected that a new era would dawn in the Telangana State after its formation. But unfortunately, nothing has changed,” he said. In response to KTR’ statement that the previous government had failed to develop the city and what they did was promoting traffic jams and foul smell, Uttam Kumar Reddy asked “what KCR and KTR have done so far to correct the situation.”

He said the Congress party’s national leaders would participate in the campaign. The party would also utilise the services of Rajya Sabha member K Chiranjeevi too. He went at the MIM party hammer and tongs for “colluding with the BJP to divide the society on religious lines.” He ruled out truck with the MIM party either before or after the election.

He recalled that the Congress government had created Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation with Rs 5,000 crore budget, but the TRS was the party which failed to conduct the election in time, though it came power 19 months ago and alleged that the The TRS party had delayed the completion of Metro Rail project, he alleged.

Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the TRS government of creating insecurity among the people who migrated to Hyderabad from various parts. The government, he said, had constructed just 200 double bedroom houses during the last 19 months, he said. The government had bungled the Fee Reimbursement scheme and destroyed the education sector in the city.