Strongly refuting speculations in the political circles that there is a widening gap between him and Congress supreme leader Rahul Gandhi in recent times, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy asserted that there is no such gap. Dismissing the rumors that Rahul Gandhi is not giving him appointment he recalled that recently Rahul Gandhi spoke after him at a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh and said that the Telangana Chief Minister is doing well.
He explained that the caste census in Telangana was mentioned in Parliament by Rahul and also talked about it in Bihar. He said that he had discussed the caste census with Rahul from time to time and asked if he would conduct the caste census without the approval of the Congress high command and introduce it in the Assembly?
Revanth said that there was no need to talk about his close relations with Rahul and recalled that similar propaganda was also spread against him previously when he was working with Chandrababu Naidu. He also dismissed the reports that the MLAs were rebelling against him. He said that they laughed and replied that they were just sitting and having a party and making jokes by hearing such words.
He said that he had sent Jupally Krishna Rao to Bangalore with a letter to talk to the Karnataka government for water from Narayanpur reservoir to Mahabubnagar. Revanth said that during his Delhi visit this time, discussions were held only on the caste census and the PCC working committee, and that a decision on the expansion of the cabinet would be taken as per the instructions of the party high command. Revanth Reddy explained that he was not recommending anyone’s names.
Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a `converted OBC’ and recalled that he had changed his caste after becoming the Chief Minister. He said that the BJP has no right to teach him lessons about OBCs.
Kishan Reddy contested in place of Dattatreya, who was an OBC. He replaced Sanjay, who was another OBC, as the party president. Kishan Reddy snatched the seats of those two BCs, he alleged. Revanth was furious, asking if they were the ones who were talking about the Kapu president being removed in Andhra and the appointment of people from the upper caste, and that injustice had been done to the OBCs.