Dalit Bandhu, the latest scheme launched by the Telangana government led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, appears to be causing jitters in the camp of former health minister Eatala Rajender, who is contesting the ensuing by-elections to Huzurabad seat on Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.
This was evident from the WhatsApp chat between Rajender’s brother-in-law Kondaveeti Madhusudhan Reddy with his poultry farm partner a couple of days ago.
The chat, in which Reddy allegedly made some derogatory comments against Dalits, was exposed to the media by the TRS late on Wednesday night.
However, Rajender’s camp described it as a fake and a fabricated WhatsApp chat. Rajender’s wife Eatala Jamuna conducted milk bath to the statue of Ambedkar and Reddy lodged a complaint with the police.
But the TRS expose has done considerable damage to Rajender’s camp and the BJP as well.
In the chat, the poultry farm partner was seen to have commented that Dalit Bandhu scheme would definitely have an impact on the voters.
“But there is also a talk among the Dalits that KCR had launched the scheme only because of Rajender anna,” he said.
Reddy, however, did not buy this argument.
“We cannot believe Madiga community (Dalits), as they fall prey even to small offers,” the WhatsApp chat quoting Reddy said.
The Rajender camp is also not sure of the cooperation from the state BJP leadership.
“This fellow, Bandi Sanjay is not taking care of the campaign in Huzurabad. He is not happy with Vivek extending support to Rajender,” Reddy said.
The camp is hopeful that the situation might turn in favour of Rajender if the central leaders come for the campaign. “Amit Shah should come for the campaign,” he said.
The WhatsApp chat also discussed about the distribution of money during the electioneering among the voters, besides media persons.