VP election: KTR hits out at Jairam Ramesh, says BRS not B-team of Cong or BJP

Hyderabad, Sep 9 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao on Tuesday said that BRS is neither the B-team of Congress nor the BJP.

In a counter to senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s taunt over BRS abstaining from the voting in the Vice-Presidential election, Rama Rao claimed that BRS is the A-team of people of Telangana.

KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, took to ‘X’ to hit back at the Congress general secretary.

“Jairam Ji, This sense of entitlement and arrogance is what made Congress fail in contemporary politics ‘Either you are with us or else you’re with them’ claim is a silly argument posturing as if the nation is bipolar,” posted KTR.

“We are neither B-team of Congress or BJP We are the A-team of Telangana people. Please focus on your own failures and spare us the tantrums,” added the BRS leader.

He was responding to Jairam Ramesh’s tweet, apparently targeting BRS and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) over their decision to abstain.

“Two parties who have stood with the BJP staunchly over the past decade in Parliament have decided to abstain in the Vice Presidential election tomorrow. The shape of things to come?” the former union minister had posted on Monday.

BRS, which has four members in the Rajya Sabha, on Monday announced its decision to abstain from voting in the election scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

“For the last 20 days, BRS has been warning both state and central governments about the shortage of urea. Yet they have failed to respond. As a mark of protest and in solidarity with 71 lakh Telangana farmers, BRS has decided not to participate in the Vice President election. If NOTA was an option, we would have chosen it,” KTR had told a press conference on Monday.

He recalled that the BRS had offered to support the alliance that assures the supply of two lakh tonnes of urea to Telangana. He said that since neither the NDA nor the INDIA bloc came forward to bring the required urea for Telangana farmers, the party decided to abstain.

KTR had stated on August 20 that the BRS will support the formation, which can ensure the supply of urea to meet the requirements of farmers.

--IANS

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