YSR alleges horse-trading by TDP

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JULY 18. The leader of the Congress-I Legislature Party (CLP), Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, has alleged that the ruling TDP is resorting to horse-trading to capture the Zilla Parishads in the districts set for a close contest for the posts of ZP chairperson.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Dr.Reddy said he had information of the ``foul play'' in Ranga Reddy district where the TDP was attempting to ``buy'' support. The TDP would incur public wrath if it did not restrain itself from these attempts, he warned. His party would resist the ``insidious game'' of the TDP at any cost, if necessary, through a ``street fight,'' he said.

Dr.Rajasekhara Reddy said the results of the local body elections showed that the Congress-I was on a comeback trail. The party's success in this election was a harbinger of its victory in the Assembly elections three years later.

The CLP leader said that the people were not carried away by the media hype on which the TDP and the Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu, relied so heavily. Ultimately, the propaganda overkill boomeranged on Mr.Naidu, he said. In the same breath, he complained that the media was not fair to the Congress and did not give the attention that his party deserved.

He further alleged that the Chief Minister raised the stakes of the elections so high that it lost the character of a local body election and had no focus on the local issues. In the campaign heat, he did not hesitate to denigrate opponents and predicted the disappearance of the Congress-I from the political scene. ``He talked derisively about my low-key campaign though I addressed as many as 78 scheduled meetings as against 69 addressed by him.''

The CLP leader defended the party's promise of providing free power to agriculturists as ``a well-thought of proposition.''

Answering a question, Dr.Reddy said the impact of the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS), which focussed its campaign on the backwardness of the region, was nominal.

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Section  : Southern States
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