HYDERABAD, Oct 26: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday posted on Twitter an old video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the price hike of cooking gas to appeal to voters to vote against the BJP in Huzurabad by-election.
“Sometimes the best advice comes from unexpected places,” tweeted Rama Rao with the video.
“Modi Ji says punish those who are responsible for LPG price hike. Let’s spread the word,” added KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known.
The video clip is apparently from Modi’s speech at an election rally before 2014 polls. While slamming the then Congress-led UPA government for rising fuel prices, Modi had appealed to the people to do ‘namaskar’ to gas cylinders before casting their votes.
KTR, also a minister for information technology, industries, urban development and municipal administration, tweeted along with hashtags HuzurabadWithTRS and Vote4Car.
The by-election to Huzurabad Assembly constituency is scheduled on October 30. It was necessitated by the resignation of Eatala Rajender, who also quit TRS after being dropped from the State Cabinet by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao following allegations of land encroachment.
Rajender is contesting the by-election as candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The TRS has made steep hikes in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG a key issue in the campaign. The party is displaying models of gas cylinders at key locations in the constituency to highlight the issue.
The gas cylinder is also being kept on stage at public meetings and roadshows of TRS leader and finance minister Harish Rao, who is leading the party campaign.
At every meeting, the TRS leader is pointing out how the price of a cooking gas cylinder has doubled to Rs 1,000 in the seven year-rule of BJP at the Centre. He is also telling voters that the Modi government will increase the price by another Rs 200 on November 2. “The Centre is waiting for by-elections to be over. It will further increase the price of LPG cylinder by Rs 200,” he said at an election rally.
IANS