Date:11/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/11/stories/2006101111450400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Vote for Congress or BJP: Mandadi

Special Correspondent

Dissident TRS leader counters KCR on `encounters'

HYDERABAD : Dissident Telangana Rashtra Samithi Legislator Mandadi Satyanarayana Reddy has urged voters of Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency to vote for either the Congress or the BJP as "these were the two parties that could create a separate Telangana".

"It is either the Congress and the BJP and not other parties, which alone can strive for a separate State for the people of Telangana," he told a press conference here on Tuesday.

The MLA, who represents Hanamkonda constituency in Warangal and a vocal critic of party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, stopped short of telling voters to back the Congress or the BJP, and not the TRS, in the by-election.

No internal democracy

Mr. Reddy countered Mr. Rao's claim that there would be no encounters if TRS came to power. He said the TRS chief had no right to talk of repression, as the party lacked internal democracy. He doubted Mr. Rao's promise to make a dalit, the chief minister of Telangana.

Reacting strongly to the comments, another TRS Legislator E. Rajender termed them `meaningless' and said the voters would teach all dissidents a `fitting lesson'.