Telangana Cong leader slams party, asks how it can ally with BJP in municipalities

Breaking his silence on the 'unholy alliance' between the BJP and its arch rival, the Congress, in the recently-held urban, municipal and local bodies elections, senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao, popularly referred to as VH, lashed out at the state leadership of his party.

After offering his tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Congress office in Hyderabad, the senior leader criticised the state leadership for accommodating an alliance with the BJP in the recently-held municipal elections.

TRS bagged 110 of 120 municipalities and all 10 corporations in the municipal polls, leaving 10 municipalities to opponents, Congress, BJP and others. While MIM won Bhainsa, BJP won two municipalities, Makthal (Narayanpet) and Amangal (Rangareddy).

In at least three municipalities, Congress and the BJP had an unofficial alliance that leaders called a ‘local understanding’.

In Maktal and Turkayanjal municipalities, Congress councillors supported the BJP candidate to win the chairperson position. In Manikonda municipality, an IT hub with 20 wards, the Congress won 8 seats and the BJP won 6 seats— both formed an alliance, sharing Chairmen and Vice Chairmen positions between them.

Irked by these alliances and understandings with the BJP, Hanumantha Rao flayed his own party leaders, stating that any party would survive only if it stuck to its ideology and principles.

He said, “Our party is committed to carry forward the secularism of Gandhi. From Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri's regimes to the present Sonia Gandhi's regime, we never compromised. But in our state, we are acting against the principles of Mahatma Gandhi by allying with the BJP.”

Slamming his party colleagues, he asked, "How can we have an alliance with the BJP? Everyday, we wake up to criticise and talk against the BJP and the RSS. How unjust it is to have an alliance with the party of Nathuram Godse who killed Gandhi! How can we show our face to the people?”

“NSUI, Youth Congress and students of universities are asking how we can have an alliance with the BJP while they've been fighting their entire life against the BJP and RSS. We never compromised with the BJP and will not (either). If such things happen, I will definitely ask questions,” he asserted, adding that he would meet Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and party General Secretary KC Venugopal over compromising with the BJP.

VH also lamented that his objections and concerns were not addressed during internal meetings of the party.