N Uttam Kumar Reddy says KCR failed in getting Telangana dues

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday said that the three Congress Lok Sabha members elected from Telangana state would raise pending issues pertaining to the state with the Centre.

Mr Reddy said they would insist that the assurances given to Telangana state during bifurcation be fulfilled. He mentioned the steel plant at Bayyaram in Khammam district and the railway coach factory at Kazipet and national status to one of the irrigation projects in Telangana state.

Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had failed in securing resolution of these issues with the Centre. The voters had taught Mr Rao a lesson by voting for the Congress in three constituencies, he said, adding that the party had lost in two other constituencies only by small margins.

He was speaking at a function organised by the TPCC to felicitate the new MPs — Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mr Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and Mr A. Revanth Reddy — at the party headquarters Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday. Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the BJP could not become strong in Telan-gana state even though it had won four Lok Sabha seats from the state

Mr Revanth Reddy alleged that TRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao had hatched a conspiracy and got him defeated at Kodangal in the Assembly elections in December but the people of Malkajgiri, the biggest Lok Sabha constituency in the state, had blessed him.

He said the Congress MPs would oppose the “divisive politics” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

Mr Revanth also Reddy rejected speculation that he would join the BJP.

Former minister Shabbir Ali said the political scene had changed in just four months. The TRS had claimed that it would win 16 Lok Sabha seats and MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said Mr Chandrasekhar Rao would become Prime Minister. The people had given a verdict that was a slap on the face of the TRS. He said that in the future belongs to the Congress.

He pointed out that he was defeated by 4,000 votes from the Kamareddy constituency during the Assembly elections but the Congress had secured 17,000 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.