Hyderabad, July 22: Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has contended that he did not violate the model code of conduct in force for the byelections in Telangana districts when he said that a Dalit and a minority leader would be made chief minister and deputy chief minister of Telangana in the event of it becoming a state.
In reply to the notice served on him by the Election Commission seeking explanation from him why action should not be taken against him for the comments that he is reported to have made, Rao said that the Dalit and minority policy of the party was announced in 2003 itself in which these two points were made very clear.
In a twopage explanation addressed to the Election Commission and submitted to chief electoral officer IV Subba Rao today by former MP B Vinod on his behalf, the TRS chief made it clear that the two promises were not new. “That a Dalit would be made chief minister was a promise that had been said at as many as 2,500 public meetings in the past and I was only repeating it once again what I had been saying all along.” As minorities should be allowed to take part in governance for the improvement of their lot, Rao explained, he had made the promise that a minority leader would be made the deputy chief minister of the state.
As regards the comment that Telangana would become an inferno after December 31 if bifurcation of the state did not take place, Rao contended that he had never said that he would ignite an inferno. He only mentioned the possibility of the state becoming one as people were highly agitated.
–Agencies