Presidential polls: TRS to support Yashwant Sinha

Rama Rao along with TRS MPs left for New Delhi to represent TRS during the filing of nomination by Sinha

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has extended its support to former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha's candidature as the opposition candidate for the presidential polls.

TRS working president KT Rama Rao attended Sinha's nomination process in New Delhi on Monday, and called NDA's endorsement of Draupadi Murmu “mere tokenism”.

“We have nothing against Murmu, she might be good, we do not know much about her. (In Mahabharata) Bheeshmacharya was a good man but he was on the side of Kauravas,” KTR told reporters later.

“We are rejecting the NDA candidate to fight back the BJP's dictatorial, undemocratic ways of running the government, the country,” KTR said while accusing the party of grabbing power in eight states, since PM Narendra Modi came to power, even when it lacked the majority.

Read | Yashwant Sinha files nomination for Presidential polls

The TRS siding with the opposition camp on their presidential poll nominee comes in continuation of the censorious stand Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao took against Modi and the centre since last year.

But in a statement that further complicates the TRS position in the opposition and equation with other parties, KTR said that “we supporting the opposition candidate does not mean we are in some kootami (alliance.)

The TRS had earlier skipped the opposition parties meeting convened by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to promote NCP leader Sharad Pawar as the nominee. KTR said that Rao's decision to back Sinha came after Banerjee and Pawar sought his support. A minister in his father Rao's cabinet, KTR has invited Sinha to Hyderabad to canvas for votes.

The TRS has nine Lok Sabha, six Rajya Sabha and 103 MLAs, numbers which still would not assure any comfort for Sinha.

“We are voting for Sinha with the hope he will win,” KTR said.

KTR took the opportunity to question PM Modi's “claims of electrification of every village” in the country, "while a power line to Murmu's own village is being laid now"

“Murmu's candidature is mere tokenism, symbolism. The BJP's candidate last time was a SC (President Ram Nath Kovind). But has the situation of Dalits in the country improved in these five years?”

“If the BJP is serious about uplifting the STs, why has it not moved on our assembly resolution requesting the centre increase ST reservations in our state? Why was the tribal university not set up as per the AP bifurcation law?” KTR demanded to know.