Taking feedback, TRS brings in Harish as star campaigner

Hyderabad: After a severe backlash from the followers and sympathisers in social media, TRS included T Harish Rao in the list of 'Star Campaigners' of the party throwing out KCR's close aide Joginipally Santhosh from the list.

The Siddipet MLA was not among the list of star campaigners given to the Election Commission. The party gave 20 names, including Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, TRS working president K T Rama Rao, secretary-general K Keshav Rao, Ministers in KCR's cabinet, including Mohd Mahmood Ali, E Rajender, G Jagadish Reddy, T Srinivas Yadav, E Dayakar Rao, V Prashanth Reddy, A Indrakaran Reddy, K Eshwar, S Niranjan Reddy, V Srinivas Goud, Ch Malla Reddy and leaders like Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, Sheri Subhash Reddy, R Shravan Reddy, T Ravinder Rao, MPs J Santosh and Banda Prakash.

These star campaigners can travel to any constituency in the state and their expenditure will not be included in the expenditure of the candidate.

Exclusion of Harish Rao has led to large-scale discussion within the party and also in various social media platforms as the users criticised the party's decision. The party leaders argued that the stature of Harish Rao was bigger than some of the leaders who were in the list.

They were unhappy that Harish Rao's name was not on the star campaigners' list, but he was not given charge of any of the constituency. The ministers are given responsibilities of the Lok Sabha constituencies in their districts and Chief Minister is incharge for Medak district.

The leaders were also upset with the approach of the official news paper of the party, which had published photos of the campaigners ignoring Harish Rao.

Taken aback with the backlash, the TRS party on Monday decided to include Harish Rao in the list of star campaigners. The party wrote a letter to the Election Commission requesting to include the name of Harish Rao in the place of MP J Santosh.

The party requested for issuing vehicle permission pass in the name of T Harish Rao. Sources said that the TRS working president K T Rama Rao was also unhappy with the error and asked the party functionaries to rectify it.

There has been discussion on Harish Rao in TRS right after the Assembly election results as the party made K T Rama Rao as the working president of the party and was also not included in the cabinet.

However, the TRS leader was seen campaigning for the party candidate in Medak Lok Sabha constituency. With outcry by the followers, the party has included Harish Rao's name in the list to avoid further embarrassment.