Hyderabad: It was the name calling day in Indian politics. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao started it off by dubbing Congress president Rahul Gandhi country's 'biggest buffoon'.
An exasperated Congress, retaliated terming Rao a 'dictator worse than Hitler'.
Congress leader R C Khuntia, who is in charge of the party affairs in Telangana, told reporters in New Delhi that 'only a buffoon can say that'.
KCR, as Rao is widely known, had termed Rahul Gandhi a buffoon while addressing a news conference shortly after the dissolution of the state Assembly to pave the way for early elections.
Slamming the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief for banning protests at Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad, Khuntia asked how 'a person who comes from a movement deny people their democratic rights.'
Khuntia said though people had given a mandate to the TRS to rule for five years, KCR dissolved the Assembly nearly 10 months ahead of time. He said early elections to Assembly and subsequent polls to Lok Sabha will hamper development in the state.
The Congress leader said by going for early polls, KCR himself declared the end of KCR era. He exuded confidence that the Congress will come to power in Telangana with a thumping majority.
Telangana Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy asked the Election Commission to come clean in the wake of a statement by KCR that he spoke to the poll panel for dissolution of Assembly.
"The Election Commission has a lot to answer for because KCR has said he spoke to them before dissolution. This created suspicion as the EC had announced revision of voters' list in Telangana from September 1 and the process was to end on January 1, 2019."
Soon after the dissolution of the assembly, KCR had announced candidates for 105 seats.
Rao, who has been asked to continue as the caretaker chief minister, also claimed Telangana would go to polls along with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.
Branding the Congress as the 'biggest enemy' of Telangana, he flayed it for making 'baseless, mindless and meaningless' allegations against the TRS government.
"Congress is Telangana's villain number one," he told a press conference but largely spared the BJP any criticism.
Recalling how the Congress president had hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate on the no-confidence motion and his subsequent wink, Rao said, “Rahul Gandhi is the biggest buffoon in this country."
