KTR Rebuts Modi's Claim, Says BJP Sent Feelers to Ally With BRS in 2018

BRS Working President KT Rama Rao has responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments that he prevented Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from joining the NDA by saying that it was actually the other way around and that the saffron party had sent out feelers for an alliance in 2018.

Rama Rao said in a message published on "X" on Wednesday that the BRS, despite several pleas, has never allied with anyone during elections since Telangana was created. Rama Rao claimed that the Opposition is the group that has united despite ideological differences to oppose the "formidable" KCR.

Biggest Jhoota Party threw out feelers to ally with BRS in 2018 through its State President Dr. K Laxman. Could the offer have been made without his Delhi supervisors' permission? Here is the then-BJP state president making a public remark," he added, sharing some old newspaper clippings that purportedly quoted Laxman, the then-BJP leader in Telangana, as declaring that his party was prepared to back the TRS (the BRS) if it failed to win a majority in the 2018 Assembly elections.

Rama Rao further claimed that "political tourists" making up stories should be aware of this and claimed that the BRS had flatly rejected the offer the instant it was made.

At a public rally on October 3, Modi claimed to have turned down Chandrasekhar Rao's proposal to join the NDA following the 2020 elections for the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, citing his "deeds." The comments made by the PM sparked a political storm in the state, with the BRS in power angrily disputing Modi's assertions.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, claimed in a message posted on "X" on Tuesday that the prime minister had "openly accepted" what he had said at a rally last month that the BRS stands for the "BJP Rishtedaar Samiti." This was in response to Modi's allegation that he had turned down Rao's plea to join the NDA. In his tweet, Rama Rao questioned why the BRS would join forces with the BJP, a party that didn't even receive a deposit in 105 Assembly districts, and added, "Why does BRS need support of BJP in GHMC elections when we had the strength to form on our own?"