Giving a strange twist to the by-elections in Kovvur assembly seat, Minor Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh said that the soul of Potti Sriramulu, who sacrificed his life for the formation of Andhra Pradesh, would be hurt if people vote in favour of YSR Congress party candidate Nannapuneni Prasanna Kumar Reddy.
Talking to media persons at Assembly media point, Venkatesh called the upon people to vote in favour of Congress candidate P Srinivasulu Reddy in the Kovvur assembly by-elections. Alleging that YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy had a secret deal with Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao over the Telangana issue, he said voting for Prasanna Kumar Reddy would be like voting in favour of formation of Telangana. "Since Potti Sriramulu hailed from Nellore district, his soul would remain in unrest if people vote in favour of YSR Congress party," he said.
Stating that Congress party never promised that it would give Telangana State, he said that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was forced to make an announcement in 2009 due to certain prevailing conditions in the region. He said that the Centre repeatedly clarified that the formation of separate Telangana State was not possible.
Welcoming TRS chief for election campaign in Kovvur, he advised KCR not to make any provocative speeches in the campaign. He reminded that the situation in Telangana became volatile due to KCR's provocative speeches.
Venkatesh said that he would launch his election campaign in the Kovvur from March 13. He said that he was ready to campaign in the Telangana region if the High Command asks him to do so. He said he would go for campaign in the Telangana with government welfare schemes and development works taken up in the region and would never make any provocative statement on Telangana State.