Eatala decides to take on TRS leadership, cries witch-hunting

Former Minister alleges that road to KCR’s farmhouse too was laid through assigned lands

Former minister and Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender, who has fallen out of the grace of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has stated that he would move legally against the ‘witch-hunting’ unleashed against him by the State government using all its might. He criticised Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao for acting with such a venomous attitude and said it does not suit the stature of a leader such as KCR. Not stopping at that, Mr. Rajender also pointed out the ‘irregularities’ of his leader till the other day, seeking to know whether the link road to KCR’s farmhouse was not laid through assignment and private lands illegally. “Eatala Rajender is not a person who can be cowed down by threatening arrests and false cases. I am not so small to be unsettled with such tactics as I too have trod the path along with you (KCR) for 19 years. How could a ‘brother’ like me become a demon overnight. I will prefer to die but won’t mortgage my self-respect at any cost,” he said on Monday in his first reaction after being dropped from the Council of Ministers on Sunday night. The actions of Chief Minister would not suit his stature as he would often say that he embarked upon the struggle for statehood to Telangana for the self-esteem of the people. “As he (KCR) used to say that he was alone when he took off for the self-respect of Telangana people, I too may be alone now in the struggle for self-respect,” Mr. Rajender said, reciting KCR’s words: “Sar pe kafan baandh ke nikla akela...”.