Congress accepts defeat in Banswada

Accepting defeat in the Banswada by-elections, Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana said that the winning or losing elections were part and parcel of electoral politics.

Talking to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Botsa expressed satisfaction over party candidate Srinivas Goud securing over 30,000 votes in the Banswada by-elections. He denied the allegations that it had a secret pact with the Telugu Desam Party for the by-elections. He said that the TDP was in such a bad situation that it did not even field its candidates. "The TDP will not be able to contest elections in the region in future," he said.

Commenting on the controversy over Labour Minister Danam Nagender attacking a dalit youth in Hyderabad on Sunday, the PCC president said that the attack might have been in self-defence. However, he condemned the throwing of eggs on minister's vehicle and also the attack on dalit youth allegedly by the minister and his men. He said the controversy could have been avoided.

Renewing his appeal, Botsa asked all the employees' unions to withdrawal the strike in view of inconvenience being cause to the general public. He hailed the decision of RTC Employees' JAC of withdrawing from the general strike.

Reacting to the allegations that the State Government has been foisting false cases against the Telangana activists and leaders, he said that the government never tried to use coercive means to end the strike. He also refuted reports that cases have been booked against some Congress MPs due to political reasons. "Party and government are two separate things. All the cases were booked by the police in accordance with the law and the Congress party did not play any role," he clarified.