Shah sounds poll bugle in Telangana, asks voters ‘Do we need to change Nizam…’

Sounding the poll bugle in Telangana, union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday hit out at the TRS government in the state for alleged corruption and unkept promises and said his party is ready to face the polls next year.

Addressing a public meeting here which marked the culmination of state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s second phase of ‘padayatra’, Shah appealed to the voters to defeat the ruling TRS and make the saffron party successful in the 2023 elections.

“Do we need to change the Nizam of Telangana or not,” he asked the gathering, in an obvious reference to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Accusing the TRS government of failing to fulfil the major planks of separate Telangana agitation of “water, funds and jobs”, Shah said BJP, if elected to power, would implement them.

He also said his party would end minority reservations in the state and increase the quota for STs, SCs and backward classes.

The senior BJP leader, whose party won two Assembly by-polls besides putting up an impressive show in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election in the last two years, expressed confidence of BJP coming to power in the state in the hustings next year and urged the voters to elect the saffron party to usher in a secure and prosperous Telangana.

Referring to TRS’ poll symbol of car, Shah said that its steering is in the hands of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

The home minister claimed attempts were on to make Telangana like West Bengal, an apparent reference to the deaths of party workers in the eastern state, for which the BJP blames the ruling TMC there.