Dismissing Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assurance that if voted to power, the next BJP chief minister of Telangana would be from a backward class, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday wondered how they (the BJP) could be trusted to keep their word when the ruling party at the Centre removed their BC party president a few months ago.

Rao admitted that making a Dalit chief minister was one of the promises that the BRS failed to keep but people had approved it when the party returned to power the second time with a higher majority.

He also slammed the Congress, dubbing it as a “white elephant” and blamed former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the delay in forming Telangana as a separate state.

Speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by Telangana State Union of Working Journalists, he slammed Shah’s statement during a rally at Suryapet yesterday that BJP would choose a BC leader as its chief minister in the state.

“Till six months ago, they had a BC state president (Bandi Sanjay Kumar) but he was removed and replaced by G Kishan Reddy. How should one trust them? Secondly, for the past 20 years we have been saying that if there is a BC welfare department in states why can’t there be a ministry for the same at the Centre,” asked Rao.

He said the Congress was parroting the demand of the BRS in the past few months.

“This BJP Government in Delhi is against the BC census, but we have done it in the state in 2014-15 through the Samagra Kutumba survey. We have the exact data… They (BJP) are trying to find an excuse for their impending disastrous loss in Telangana,” he added.

The BRS working president pointed out that the chief minister does not need to hold praja durbars due to decentralisation and if it is required it means that the administrative system in the state has collapsed.

He lambasted the Congress calling it a party that has been tried, tested and dusted. “The real white elephant is the Congress party. For far too long, people have borne the brunt of its misrule and misadventure,” he added.

Rao raised the note-for-vote case against the current PCC chief and said they don’t believe in vendetta politics, otherwise, he would have been in jail.

BRS MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha also denounced the Congress for announcing the second leg of campaigning by the Gandhi siblings. “They are bound to be attracted to Telangana till the elections are over. They will come here, speak superficially, and leave. The reality is that their contribution to Telangana’s growth story is absolutely zero,” said Kavitha.