Using cricketing parlance, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday said that the Congress has defeated Bangladesh (BRS) in the semifinals, but now they have to fight against Pakistan (BJP) in the finals.
Reddy was addressing a meeting of the Congress social media team and took digs at both the BJP and the BRS.
“We defeated KCR in the semi-finals. That means we have defeated Bangladesh in the semifinals. Now we have to fight Pakistan in the finals. Many leaders, including (Narendra) Modi, Amit Shah and (JP) Nadda, are attacking Telangana to defeat us,” said Reddy, who is also the party’s state president. Reddy has been using the Pakistan jibe against the BJP quite frequently. Earlier, he had said that if the BJP has to win 400 seats, it will have to fight elections in Pakistan to get the additional seats.
He also took potshots at the BJP and the BRS on Friday for laying claims even on the festivals. He said just like KCR’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha had laid claim on local festivals like Bonalu and Bathukamma, the BJP leaders like Bandi Sanjay Kumar and D Aravind claimed Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti as their own.
Reddy humorously remarked, “It is like teaching grandfather to cough,” drawing chuckles from the gathering. The Chief Minister also took on BRS leader T Harish Rao, who had submitted his resignation letter to journalists on Friday while challenging Reddy to quit if he fails to provide Rs 2 lakh for loan waiver of farmers by 15 August. However, Reddy said the resignation letter was not in the format prescribed by the Speaker. Just a couple of days back, he had challenged Harish Rao to quit as MLA if the government failed to waive loans by 15 August.
As a counter challenge, the BRS MLA went to Martyr’s Memorial and submitted his resignation letter which will be effective 15 August. He challenged the Chief Minister to follow suit. Neatly sidestepping and avoiding the BRS’s attempt to hem him in, the Chief Minister said: “He wrote a big ‘seesa padyam’ (a Telugu poetic form) narrated by his maternal uncle (KCR) in the name of resignation letter. This is not how it should look like.” He added that Harish Rao remembers the Martyr’s Memorial only when he wants to cheat.
On Thursday, the Chief Minister had even said that the BJP stands for ‘British Janata Party’, prompting BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar to remark that the INC stands for the ‘Italian National Congress’, reminding that the party was actually started by AO Hume.