No alliance with TRS or BRS, says Rahul
On KCR entering national politics by renaming his party as BRS, the Congress MP said any leader had the right to imagine his party in whatever way he wants. “If the chief minister of Telangana believes that he is running a national party, that’s perfectly okay”
Hyderabad
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that there was no question of joining hands with Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) or its new form – Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).
Speaking to reporters at Kothur village on the outskirts of Hyderabad on the sidelines of his Bharat Jodo Padayatra which entered 54th day, Gandhi said the Telangana unit of the Congress had already decided not to enter into any kind of understanding with the TRS or BRS at the local or national level.
“There is absolutely no question of the Congress having any relationship with the TRS. I am repeating it very clearly. This confusion is created by the TRS leaders themselves,” he said.
On KCR entering national politics by renaming his party as BRS, the Congress MP said any leader had the right to imagine his party in whatever way he wants. “If the Chief Minister of Telangana believes that he is running a national party, that’s perfectly okay. There is no problem, he can believe it. If he believes that he is running a global party that is also accepted in the world, that’s also fine. Let him contest in the USA, China and the UK elections as well. We have no problem,” he said.
Reacting to the reports that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was in talks with KCR to have an anti-BJP opposition political front, Rahul said: “If Nitish wants to have talks with KCR, that is his concern, we have no problem with that.”
He reiterated that the Congress cannot stand with the corruption and attitude of TRS which is snatching the lands from Dalits and tribals in the state. “It is disturbing the education system. We are democratically opposing everything they are doing,” he clarified.
Gandhi said the Congress party has demonstrated that it is a democratic party by electing our President and we have had an election across the country. “I am wondering when other political parties are going to do this. I am wondering when the RSS and BJP are going to have an election, when the TRS is going to have an election,” he said.
Referring to the Modi regime, the Congress MP said there had been a systematic attack on different institutions including judiciary, bureaucracy and even the media. “When the Congress comes back to power, we are going to make sure that these institutions are once again freed from the grasp of the RSS and a certain independence is maintained in them,” he said.
He alleged that there was a massive concentration of power and crony capitalism both at the Centre and in Telangana. “Only two to three business people are being favoured, eliminating others from competition, thereby creating monopoly in every industry, which is very bad,” he said.
Later in the evening, Gandhi addressed a rally at Shamshabad, where he explained the idea behind his Bharat Jodo Yatra and called upon the people to drive away the divisive forces and restore democracy in the country.
ABOUT THE AUTHORSrinivasa Rao ApparasuSrinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience.

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