'Absolutely not': KTR says 'secular' TRS will never join hands with BJP for 2019 polls

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader and caretaker Telangana minister KT Rama Rao firmly asserted that the TRS will not join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "Absolutely not, because BJP and we don't see eye to eye on a number of counts, we have a very strong difference of opinion," he said when asked about the possibility of an alliance with the saffron party. 

Son of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, KTR called TRS an extremely secular party. "We are an extremely secular party, which carries people of different hues and shades and all sections of society. We don't polarise based on any criteria that divide us, therefore there the question of joining or aligning with them (BJP) does not arise," he said while responding to a question during a live question-answer session on Twitter.

During the hour-long interactive session on the microblogging site, KTR said that the party manifesto for the coming assembly elections in Telangana would be unveiled this month. He assured that urban and rural infrastructure, healthcare and education will be given due importance in the party manifesto. "Our manifesto will come out later this month. Our manifesto will be a combination of all the welfare activities which were promoted in the past," he said.

The IT Minister also answered questions related to infrastructure, industries development. 

He also accused the Congress of being responsible for the loss of lives during the two phases of the Telangana movement. He hit out at his political opponents, namely the TDP-Congress alliance and called them out for stooping to a new low. 

"The principal opposition party in Telangana is stooping to new lows. They are even body shaming my children. This is a new low that I abhor and detest. At the same time, if I stoop to their level, I will lose the respect people have for me. I can't stoop to their low. People will judge us on the basis of what we speak and how we speak," KTR said.