Telangana Assembly Live Updates: Elections expected in November, says CM K Chandrashekar Rao

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, on Thursday, held a meeting with his council of ministers to dissolve the state assembly. After the meeting, the chief minister met Governor ESL Narasimhan and informed him about his cabinet's decision.

Governor Narasimhan has accepted the cabinet's decision and has asked Rao to continue as the caretaker chief minister of the state.

While addresing the media, K Chandrashekhar Rao also announced the Telangana Rashtra Samithi's Election Manifesto Committee which comprises of 15members and will be chaired by TRS Parliamentary Party Leader K Keshav Rao, Telangana Today reported. 

On being asked whether his party would form an alliance with the Bhartiya Janta Party in the elections, chief minister Rao said that Telangana Rashtra Samithi was a '100%' secular party and there was no question of joining hands with the BJP. 

Targetting the Congress party and its president Rahul Gandhi, the Telangana chief minister said that Gandhi had inherited the legacy of Congress Delhi sultanate and he is the lagal heir of Congress empire of Delhi. He appealed to the people on not to become 'slaves' of the Congress party and Delhi. 

Hitting out at the Congress, Rao said that his government provided more jobs than what Congress did during its 10 year-long tenure. He rubbished all the allegations regarding unemployment in the state as baseless, mindless and meaningless. The chief minister also added that employees in Telangana are well paid in comparison to other parts of the country. He said that Telangana is the only state to provide risk allowance to traffic police officials. 

Speaking about his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rao said that his government's relation with PM Modi and the BJP was only a government-to-government relation.

He also mentioned that the AIMIM had extended its support to his party voluntarily when there were attempts to destabilize his government. 

Rao informed the media that he has decided to go to the court of people to curb the increasing political fragility in the state. "Telangana should not sacrifice its self-respect," the chief minister said. 

Informing the media about the facilities provided by his government, Rao said that the state government has extended irrigation facilities to 8 lakh acres in Mahabubnagar district by completing the Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu and Bheema projects.

"Increasing the State's wealth and distributing it to the poor is our principle," Rao said while appreciating the efforts of his government towards the upliftment of the poor. 

Hitting out at the Congress party, chief minister Rao said that the party was 'villain number one' for the state. Interestingly, he had said the same back in 2001 as well. 

Rao added that the state has not witnessed a single incident of communal violence in the last four and a half years and is quite a peaceful state. Speaking on the elections, Rao said that this was not an early election but the state was already in the election zone. "I say with authority, we fulfilled our manifesto promises and 76 other programs not mentioned in manifesto were also implemented, " Rao said while talking about his government's performance.

Appreciating the efforts of his ministers and MLAs, Rao said that he would like to salute them for their sacrifice. Rao announced the list of 105 candidates for the upcoming elections and informed the press that the state might go for polls in November and the results can be expected in the first week of December.

He also said that the decisions regarding allocating tickets have been kept on hold for five constituencies including Medchal, Malkajgiri, Warangal East, Choppadandi, and Vikarabad. "Sitting MLAs from Chennur and Andole were denied tickets", he said.

Speaking to the media at the Telangana Bhavan, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said that the state has been witnessing political fragility and it is not desirable. Talking about the achievements of his government, Rao said that the state progressed at a rate of 21.96 percent in state-owned revenue during the first five months of the current fiscal year.

Rao also informed media that the state had spent around Rs 25,000 crore on irrigation. He said that the state witnessed this growth only possible because of discipline and prudence and the state has also received many awards in the last few years. "We have suffered for 35 years on the power front," the Chief Minister said adding that the development of the state should not suffer no matter what happens.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has started his press conference at the party office. 

Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti took to Twitter and said that AAP will play an important role in the elections. "As anticipated @trspartyonline scared of massive defeat dissolved Telangana assembly but come what may TRS will lose election badly and BJP and Modi ji won't be of any help. AAP will play an important role in the same," Bharti tweeted. 

Responding to cabinet's decision to dissolve the state assembly, Congress Telangana chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said his party will sweep the polls. "Telangana people are happy that they have got rid of a despotic and autocratic rule. Congress party will sweep the polls," he told ANI.

Following the meeting with his council of ministers, Rao met Governor ESL Narasimhan and informed him about his cabinet's decision. Governor Narasimhan has accepted Rao's proposal to dissolve the legislative assembly and asked him to continue as the caretaker Chief Minister of the state.

After the Telangana cabinet held a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the council of ministers have decided to dissolve the state assembly seeking early elections in the state.