Ponnam and Jagga Reddy charge BRS with frustration and trying to damage Hyderabad

Minister for Transport and BC Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar and TPCC working president T. Jagga Reddy addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Saturday (September 14, 2024).

Minister for Transport and BC Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar and TPCC working president T. Jagga Reddy warned that the attempts by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to disturb Hyderabad’s peace and undermine its reputation would not be tolerated and asked why the BRS was raking up Andhra settlers issue after enjoying power for 10 years with their support.

Addressing a press conference here they recalled how BRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao had led a smear campaign against the Congress during the elections that law and order issues would arise if Congress came to power. Now when the entire State was peaceful, the BRS is trying to create disturbances as it was unable to digest its defeat in Assembly and rout in Parliament elections. Is it right to provoke an MLA that party flag would be raised on his residence and also insult women showing sarees and bangles to an elected MLA, they asked.

Rejecting the BRS accusations on defections to Congress, Mr. Ponnam Prabhakat said it was a shame that the party that openly encouraged defections from all the political parties for 10 years was crying hoarse about defections now. He alleged that the BRS could not digest a Dalit MLA becoming the Leader of the Opposition and split the Congress party. “Let them check their track record before accusing the Congress,” he said. Mr. Prabhakar stressed the need to bolster the party’s grassroots structure to effectively counter the Opposition’s narrative.

Addressing concerns about disturbances during recent Ganesh immersion processions, Prabhakar affirmed that the government had successfully maintained law and order. He cautioned that any provocative actions by the Opposition would be met with resolute measures. Prabhakar also criticized the BJP for allegedly attempting to damage the ruling party’s reputation by distorting government initiatives, thereby eroding public trust.

Don’t target Revanth

TPCC working president Jagga Reddy accused the BRS of inciting unnecessary controversy over the defection of MLAs to Congress, including Serilingampally MLA Arikepudi Gandhi, and warned the BRS leaders against criticizing Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, and threatening to retaliate. He accused BRS leaders of unethical practices, including encouraging defections from Congress between 2014 and 2018, and questioned KCR’s integrity in merging Congress legislators into BRS.

He said Revanth Reddy has the responsibility of saving the government in view of the continued threats from the BRS and BJP to the government’s very existence. He said Congress MLAs never behaved cheap like the BRS MLAs were doing now for publicity. He remined that it was KCR who inducted the Andhra-origin MLAs into his party and now without power the BRS leaders were raising the bogey of Andhra-origin MLAs.

He said the defection culture was encouraged and followed by KCR and in the combined Andhra Pradesh such culture didn’t exist. There were no instances of MLAs joining the rival parties but only stayed away from their original parties owing to personal differences.