Ponguleti wonders whether KTR will be in India at all by next elections

Hyderabad

With the Jubilee Hills byelection fast approaching, political temperatures in Telangana have soared, as Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy challenged the credibility of BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao’s allegations on him, questioning his stay in India itself before the next elections.

The Minister, who was addressing a meeting in his Paleru constituency on Thursday, recalled his past electoral battles, and said that even former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KTR’s father) tried his best to defeat him in Paleru. “To stop my win in Paleru, your father tried three times but could not succeed. If he couldn’t do it, will you be able to? You’re just a political novice,” he said.

The Minister also cast doubts on whether KTR would even remain in the country beyond the next few years. He remarked, “By the time the next General Elections come, in three-and-a-half years, people of Telangana will decide your political future. Will you still be in India, or will you pack your bags and leave for America? That’s what they are ready to decide.”

Mr. Ponguleti advised KTR to prove his party’s strength first in the Jubilee Hills bypolls before thinking about future political claims.