BRS, Congress trade allegations after alleged attack on MLA

HYDERABAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and opposition Congress traded allegations after MLA and BRS candidate from Atchampet (SC) constituency, Guvvala Balaraju was injured in an alleged attack by Congress leaders.

Balaraju was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad, where BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao called on him on Sunday.

The clash between the rival groups took place on Saturday night in the constituency in Nagarkurnool district.

Balaraju, who was later discharged from the hospital, alleged that Congress candidate Vamshikrishna and his supporters attacked him and the BRS workers. He told media persons that Vamshikrishna attacked him with a stone.

Balaraju said he will not be deterred by such attacks and will continue to serve people. He said as the son of a migrant labourer, he was elected twice by the people and unable to face him politically, the Congress candidate was resorting to physical attacks.

KTR told media persons that Congress party leaders were resorting to physical attacks in desperation as they realised that they were losing.

He said this was the second such incident. Earlier, BRS MP K. Prabhakar Reddy was injured when he was stabbed while campaigning in Dubbaka Assembly constituency.

However, state Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy said the alleged attack on Balaraju was a drama by the ruling party. He said such conspiracies were common in states where Prashant Kishor is election strategist. He cited the knife attack on Jagan Mohan Reddy and leg injury to Mamata Banerjee.

Revanth Reddy said the alleged attacks on Balaraju and Prabhakar Reddy were part of a conspiracy to gain political mileage. He mentioned that the police have already stated Prabhakar Reddy was attacked to create a sensation.

The TPCC chief asked why the police had not presented Raju, who had attacked Prabhakar Reddy, before the media. Even the remand report in the case has not been made public. He demanded that the police reveal all the details of the case.

Revanth Reddy alleged that KTR circulated a fake letter by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar to Foxconn to shift their plant from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. He said BRS brought some hired people from Karnataka to run a false campaign against the Congress.

The Congress leader said despite complaints to the Election Commission about these conspiracies, it took no action.

Assembly elections in Telangana are scheduled to be held on November 30.