Telangana Opposition meets Governor ESL Narasimhan, demands President's Rule ahead of Assembly polls

Hyderabad: Accusing the caretaker government of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) of ‘misusing’ powers, Opposition parties in Telangana Tuesday met Governor ESL Narasimhan and urged him to take steps to ensure that President’s Rule was imposed in the state in the run-up to Assembly polls. “Even if KCR (K Chandrasekhar Rao) is caretaker chief minister, free and fair polls will not be possible in Telangana. We demanded that elections be conducted after imposing President’s Rule,” Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters after meeting the governor. He took exception to Rao saying that Legislative Assembly polls would be held in November as the schedule of elections was an important announcement to be announced by the Election Commission. [caption id=“attachment_5164921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Governor ESL Narasimhan. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Telugu Desam Party (TDP)’s Telangana unit president L Ramana, Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary Chada Venkata Reddy, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) leader M Kodandaram were among leaders who met the governor. Earlier in the day, Congress, TDP, and CPI held preliminary talks to evolve a “grand alliance” for the coming Assembly elections in the state. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said his party has given a call to all political parties and non-political organisations to join forces with Congress to end the “misrule of KCR family.” “Accordingly, as a preliminary discussion, Congress, TDP and CPI met today(Tuesday). We call upon all parties and all people’s organisations, civil society organisations, students associations, women’s groups, who wish the interest of Telangana, to join forces,” he told reporters. Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) Telangana unit president L Ramana said they favoured a “grand alliance” for the elections in the interest of Telangana people. Alleging that democratic principles suffered a ‘setback’ during TRS rule, CPI state secretary Chada Venkata Reddy said the parties favoured a “grand alliance.” Legislative Assembly elections in Telangana were originally scheduled to take place along with the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. However, the Assembly was dissolved last week as per a recommendation made by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government.