Launching a scathing attack on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said his remote control was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and described the state's ruling party as "BJP's B-Team" and its new nomenclature, BRS, as 'BJP Rishtedar Samithi'.
Gandhi alleged that the corruption charges against Rao and his party's leaders have made them subservient to the BJP, and asserted that he told all other opposition leaders that the Congress would not join any bloc where the BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) was involved.
Addressing a public meeting here, Gandhi said, "BRS is like BJP Rishtedar Samiti. KCR thinks he is a king and Telangana is his kingdom."
Gandhi said the Congress has always stood against the BJP in Parliament, but Rao's party has been "BJP's B-team". "Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries the remote control of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao," the former Congress chief said.
He said the Congress recently fought the assembly election in Karnataka against "a corrupt and anti-poor government and we defeated them with the support of the poor, OBCs, minorities and oppressed in the state".
"Something similar is going to happen in Telangana. On one side there would be rich and powerful of the state and on the other side, there would be poor, tribals, minorities, farmers and small shopkeepers with us. What has happened in Karnataka, would be repeated in Telangana," Gandhi said.
The Congress leader said earlier it was said that there was a three-way fight between the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi which is now BRS), the Congress and the BJP in Telangana.
"But the BJP does not exist at all in Telangana. Their all four tyres have got punctured. Now it is a fight between Congress and B-Team of BJP," he said.
Referring to the recent attempts to unite the opposition against the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said, "We told other opposition leaders if TRS attends the meeting, Congress will not attend it, Congress can't share stage with TRS."
Over a dozen opposition parties recently met in Patna, Bihar, to put up a united front against the BJP and will be meeting again in Bengaluru soon. The BRS and a few other non-BJP parties are not part of this grouping.
Gandhi also described Congress workers as 'babbar sher' (lions) and "backbone" of the party. "With your support, we can defeat the BRS like we did in Karnataka," he told party workers.
"We got a huge support from here (Telangana) during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and I want to thank you all for that," he said.
"During the yatra, we talked about uniting the country. On one hand, we follow an ideology to unite the country and there is another side that is trying to break the country," the Congress leader said.
"The entire country supported the yatra and said they wouldn't allow hatred in this country. Khammam has always supported the Congress as it believes in our ideology. I welcome the leaders who have decided to join the Congress today. But most importantly, I want to thank the workers of the party, who are like our lions (babbar sher)," he said.
The BRS "attacked you all but none of you were scared", he told the party workers.