Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The protest was in Delhi, but one of the sharpest political exchanges came from Telangana. As Rahul Gandhi led a protest against the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao launched a broadside against the Congress leader, accusing him of “hypocrisy” over the Constitution and democracy, and alleged “vote chori”. The BRS leader said the Congress under Rahul Gandhi had “created the biggest vote chor” in Telangana.
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After the initial attack, KTR, as Rama Rao is known, turned it into a more personal one.
Responding to Congress supporters who had called him a “nepo kid”, KTR posted on X, “Pretty rich coming from a party where Nehru’s daughter’s son’s kid is your leader.”
The line was aimed at Rahul Gandhi, the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru and grandson of Indira Gandhi. It was also a pointed reference to the long-running charge against the Congress that the Gandhi family has exercised disproportionate influence over the party across generations.
But there is a nuance involved here. KTR is himself the son of K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), the founder of the BRS and Telangana‘s first Chief Minister. KTR served as a minister in his father’s government and later became the working president of the BRS.
That is why KTR was referred to as a “nepo kid”, which led to the Telangana leader attacking Rahul Gandhi.
WHY DID KTR ATTACK RAHUL GANDHI?
KTR’s first post on Tuesday was not primarily about nepotism. It came amid the political drama in Delhi and the arrest of BRS leader Manne Krishank in Telangana, where the Congress is in power.
Congress leader and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has been at the centre of an increasingly bitter political contest with the BRS.
Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders had marched towards the Election Commission in Delhi, demanding action against CEC Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls. The march was stopped by police barricades, following which Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises and continued the protest for several hours. Both were later detained, and Delhi Police subsequently registered an FIR over the alleged unauthorised entry into the premises.
KTR used that confrontation with the Election Commission as the backdrop for a wider attack on Gandhi.
“Mr Rahul Gandhi wants to be Prime Minister, but acts like a coward, a bully and an undemocratic human,” he said. The BRS leader then turned to what he sees as a contradiction between Gandhi’s national politics and Congress’s handling of dissent in Telangana.
“He preaches the Constitution, yet runs anarchy in Telangana through his puppet Revanth Reddy and encourages defections,” KTR said.
KTR accused Rahul Gandhi of backing Reddy while Congress seeks to weaken the BRS through defections and political pressure.
The immediate trigger was the arrest of BRS leader Manne Krishank. Telangana Police arrested Krishank after allegations he made against Reddy and his family. The BRS has portrayed the action as an example of the Congress government suppressing political criticism.
KTR connected that episode directly to Gandhi’s campaign against alleged electoral wrongdoing. “He shouts ‘vote chori’ on the streets, but made Telangana’s biggest vote-chor, the original vote-for-note peddler, the Chief Minister,” KTR said, referring to Reddy.
The “vote-for-note” reference is an old political controversy involving Reddy.
KTR went further, bringing Krishank’s arrest into the same argument. “He can make baseless allegations against anyone. But when BRS leader Krishank Manne questioned the Anumula family’s corruption with proof, he gets arrested,” he said.
The “Anumula family” reference is to Revanth Reddy, whose full name is Anumula Revanth Reddy.
KTR TURNED THE NEPO KID JIBE ON RAHUL GANDHI
KTR ended the first post with a direct appeal to Gandhi, saying, “Rein in your puppet, Rahul.” He then added, “Stop making a mockery of the Indian Constitution.”
The second post changed the tone. By evening, KTR was responding not just to Gandhi’s politics but to criticism directed at himself.
“Congress jokers trolling me as a Nepo Kid,” he wrote. He followed it with the line, “Pretty rich coming from a party where Nehru’s daughter’s son’s kid is your leader.”
KTR’s attack was seemingly as much about turning the “nepo kid” label back on Congress as it is about Rahul Gandhi, Revanth Reddy and Telangana politics.
– Ends
(Written by Anand Singh)
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
