BJP national general secretary and MP Bandi Sanjay and the party’s Quthbullapur candidate Kuna Srisailam Goud.
| Photo Credit: By arrangement
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Qutbullapur MLA K.P. Vivekanand be debarred from contesting Telangana Assembly Elections-2023 and questioned the delay by the police in filing a case against the MLA following his assault of the party’s candidate Kuna Srisailam Goud during a ‘live’ television debate on Wednesday night.
Karimnagar MP and national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar accused a section of police of playing a partisan role and warned them of facing the music when the next government is formed by the BJP. “What more evidence do they want after the entire country has seen the arrogance of the power drunk BRS MLA? Many cases were filed against us and we were put behind bars on flimsy grounds,” he charged.
The BJP leader further alleged that a few retired police officers were continuing to call the shots and targeting the party even while helping in money distribution to benefit the ruling party. “We will also meet the Election Commission soon to file a complaint against the MLA and about the police inaction,” he told the media after meeting Mr. Goud at his residence.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar praised Mr. Goud for showing composure and fortitude in controlling himself when he was being attacked by the MLA and accused the BRS leaders at all levels, ranging from Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to his MLAs, of being unable to tolerate anyone questioning about their unfulfilled promises.
“Mr. Vivekanand was elected twice and has the responsibility to explain to the people about his work and the Opposition has every right to question him. This is how democracy works. But it was unfortunate that the MLA instead of utilising the opportunity to proclaim his work resorted to physical assault because he wanted to divert the attention. Our candidate kept quiet as our party’s culture is different. However, this should not be construed as weakness,” he asserted.
The MP in a sarcastic tone said the BRS MLA certainly could not expose himself by mentioning about land grabbing, or failure to allot two-bedroom housing or about employment in the industrial area for the local people.
“Ït appeared that he is sending a warning to the Quthbullapur people. They now have the chance to defeat public representatives involved in land grabbing or taking commissions. Their decision will be the harbinger of change across Telangana. There is a political wave in favour of BJP though a few sections of media are supporting BRS and Congress Parties,” he remarked.
Mr. Srisailam Goud said he did not react when the MLA attacked him since he was a “responsible” person and was well aware of people watching. “We share the same surname, but we are not close relatives. He is welcome to file a defamation case against me but I am ready to prove my charges with evidence,” he said about Mr. Vivekanand.
He further charged the MLA of being ‘frustrated’ having lost people’s support because of his “fake” promises and hence “lost patience”. “Ï have a track record of public service and won elections as an Independent candidate. I had lost elections last time because of high emotions post Telangana state formation,” he added.
Mr. Srisailam won as an independent candidate from the constituency in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections-2009. After formation of Telangana, Mr. Vivekanand won from the constituency in the 2014 State Assembly Elections as a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate and later joined Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS). He won again in the 2018 State Assembly Elections. Mr. Srisailam was with Congress in the 2018 elections and joined BJP in February, 2021.
