Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao smells a BJP rat behind the RTC workers’ strike. Intelligence reports indicate a BJP role in the strike, which has embarrassed him, and he has told senior TRS colleagues that he would expose his opponent’s double standards.

At a review meeting with ministers and officials on Tuesday night, the CM called both BJP’s mischief and the Congress’ support to the strike “unethical”. He is planning to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the surface transport minister about their party's unhelpful activity during the strike.




State BJP leaders met Governor Tamilisai Soun-darajan twice regarding the RTC workers’ strike, as did the RTC JAC. Her assurance to the RTC workers also raised Mr Rao’s suspicion about their role. “When the Centre has empowered the states to privatise their RTCs, why were state BJP leaders speaking against it?” he asked.

He further wondered how the state BJP leaders could question his action when their Central government was itself planning to privatise profit-earning public sector companies. While the state BJP demanded that the Telengana state government pay RTC workers’ salaries, why wasn’t the Centre paying salaries to BSNL employees, the TRS supremo asked.

The ruling party in the state is waiting for the Huzurnagar by-election result, where the BJP is expected to come third or fourth, before attacking the state unit for daring to call itself an alternative to TRS.