Congress a redundant institution, has no future: KT Rama Rao

Hyderabad: TRS working president and Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday termed the Congress as "a redundant institution" and said the party along with the BJP has let the country down in the last 75 years while adding that the grand old party has no future. Speaking to ANI, KTR said, "We do not have any relation with Congress.

It is a redundant institution. The people of India gave them a chance to rule for more than 50 years in the last 75 years. The country has been let down by Congress and the BJP. Congress particularly is a party that has been tried, tested and dusted. I don't see any future in Congress."

The TRS leader denied the Congress and BJP were a "national party" and said that every party should put forward their agenda in front of the people and let the people decide "which party is big or small". "There is no party in the country today which can call itself a national party because if you look at the BJP, it has its presence in only one state in South India. If you consider Congress a national party, its condition is known in Uttar Pradesh and other states. Probably we are a regional party at a small level. There is no party in India that is a national party, according to me," he said.

"BJP is a north-Indian party, and Congress is limited to one or two states. So every political party should keep its agenda in front of the country, then the people will decide which party is big or small," KTR added. Asked about Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's support to Rahul Gandhi in a press conference over Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's remark on the Congress leader, KTR said that he did not support anybody, but condemned the person who made the derogatory remark.

"He did not support anybody, but condemned the person who insulted another politician using very derogatory words. This is the minimum decency that one should have. Even the Prime Minister should have acted, he did not, but he should have," he said. Notably, the TRS has hired I-PAC, once led by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, ahead of the Assembly elections in the state next year.

When asked if Kishor would facilitate an alliance between TRS and Congress in the future, KTR said that the Sonia Gandhi-led party "does not have a future". "I believe that Congress does not have a future. That party was part of history and will remain history. It has no future. If it has no future, then how can I say that we would work with them. What happens in the future, we will see," he said.

Chief Minister KCR has time and again called for a third front against the BJP to oust the ruling party at the Centre in the 2024 general elections. KCR has also expressed his national ambitions in the past on various occasions. KTR, when asked about the failure to stitch any third front till now, said that the efforts to bring the anti-BJP parties will continue and they will provide a "credible alternative" in the country.

"The efforts would continue to be made. We will make efforts to provide a credible alternative in the country. PM Modi had said that the farmers' income would be doubled by 2022, but their problems have doubled. He had also promised a house to every Indian by 2022, but nobody got it. But nothing has happened. The people of India should think about what Congress and the BJP did in the last 75 years," he said.