Congress objects to KTR’s move to honour November 29 as Deeksha Diwas, writes to CEO

Hyderabad: In a complaint to the Telangana chief electoral officer (CEO), the Congress alleged that minister and BRS star campaigner KT Rama Rao’s call for observing November 29 as Deeksha Diwas is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

KTR said that November 29 marks the day when chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao went on a hunger strike in 2009 while protesting for a separate Telangana State.

Elaborating on the complaint, G Niranjan, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) senior vice-president and chairman of the Election Commission Coordination Committee, said “As per some newspaper reports, BRS working president KT Rama Rao has called for observing Deeksha Diwas on November 29 to mark the hunger strike of KCR in 2009 when he was agitating for a separate statehood for Telangana. KTR has also called for organising certain programmes like blood donation camps to commemorate the day. However, elections are slated to be held the very next day on November 30 and as per the norms of EC, all political campaigns and public gatherings by political parties should stop from the evening of November 28. Observing Deeksha Diwas will be a political event and a violation of MCC. We have reported this to the CEO.”

CEO Vikas Raj had clarified before the press that all canvassing by political parties should be stopped from November 28, the final 48 hours prior to the polling date. “Section 144 will be promulgated from November 28 and no such political gathering and public campaigns would be allowed by any party,” he said.

This is not the first time the Opposition has raised objections to KTR’s canvassing methods. KTR was asked by the EC to explain his stand by Sunday afternoon with regard to his use of a government institute for political purposes. Based on a complaint by a Congress MP, the EC had concluded from the video footage of the event that KTR had indeed violated the MCC when he recently visited the T-Works office in Hyderabad and interacted with a large number of youths for his electioneering agenda. When asked about KTR’s reply, CEO Vikas Raj clarified that they have not received any and they are not aware if KTR had directly sent the explanation to EC.