Union Minister Bandi Sanjay compares MLC poll to India-Pakistan match, draws Congress' ire

'We (BJP) are the Indian team; they (Congress) are the Pakistan team. Voters must decide now—vote for us for India's victory or vote for them if Pakistan is to win', the BJP leader said.

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday likened the contest between the BJP and Congress in the February 27 MLC poll in Telangana to an India-Pakistan cricket match, prompting an angry reaction from the ruling party.

"Just as the Indian team fulfilled the hopes of fans in the recent Champions Trophy match, the BJP will fulfill the aspirations of teachers and graduates, who are the voters in the MLC poll," said Sanjay Kumar.

"We (BJP) are the Indian team; they (Congress) are the Pakistan team. Voters must decide now—vote for us for India's victory or vote for them if Pakistan is to win," he told reporters in Karimnagar.

Noting that India handed a humiliating defeat to Pakistan in the cricket match, he appealed to voters to support the BJP in similarly defeating Congress in the "political match".

Sanjay Kumar further claimed that no Chief Minister had ever campaigned in an MLC election before. Congress’s defeat seemed imminent as CM Revanth Reddy had to address three election rallies on Monday.

Taking exception to Sanjay Kumar's analogy, state Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud alleged that it has become a common practice for the BJP to gain political mileage in every election by "inciting communal animosities and linking India with Pakistan." Emphasising that cricket is merely a sport, Goud wondered how cricket and politics could be linked.

"It is shameful that BJP leaders are trying to gain political advantage by bringing cricket into politics," he claimed.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Monday accused the BRS and BJP of having a "clandestine understanding" for the MLC elections to three seats on February 27.

He also alleged that Union Coal Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy was blocking approvals from the Centre for various development projects proposed by the state government.

Taking exception to the Chief Minister's allegations, Kishan Reddy retorted that Revanth Reddy was merely throwing mud at the BJP as if he were still in the opposition.