Days after Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to make him the Chief Minister of Telangana if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is voted to power, the party’s state unit president G Kishan Reddy denied it.

In an exclusive interview with News18, Reddy said no one has suggested Rajender’s name as the BJP’s chief ministerial face. The Telangana BJP president also touched upon the party’s focus on the Other Backward Castes (OBC) community, inaction against Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha and other election issues. Here are some edited excerpts:

Is Eatala Rajender your CM face?

We have many party workers from the BC community. We have many chief ministerial faces. No one has suggested Eatala Rajender‘s name.

Do you think the BJP’s promise of removing reservations for Muslims is going to hurt the party in Telangana?

A quota based on religion is unconstitutional. We will remove the 4% reservation that Muslims have in the state on the first day we come to power. After that, we will increase the quota for BCs, SCs and STs.

People have often questioned why the BJP did not arrest BRS MLC Kavitha in the liquor scam case. This gave rise to speculation that the BJP was helping the BRS. What would you say about that?

The rival parties are cooking up these rumours. In the liquor scam case, the Enforcement Directorate has started investigations against 126 persons. Among them, 12-13 persons have been arrested. In the National Herald case, All India Congress Committee senior leader Sonia Gandhi has faced ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigations several times. Are the Congress workers demanding that Gandhi should be arrested? This is not an issue about parties, but about agencies. It is not the BJP’s job to keep tabs on who the ED arrests in these cases.

Who is responsible for the devastating fire that claimed nine lives in Nampally?

The construction of illegal warehouses in commercial and residential areas has been an ongoing issue in Hyderabad. For example, in the building where the latest mishap took place, there are 16 residential floors above the warehouse. How did the builder get the permission to construct it? All the major fire mishaps in the last 3-4 years have been due to illegal warehouses.

As a local MP, I have written to the state government numerous times, requesting them to shift the warehouses outside the city. The government did not pay any heed.

The PM has promised a task force to ensure justice for the Madiga community. However, such committees had been set up before too when the TDP and Congress were in power. No concrete step was taken. How will BJP ensure that the demands of the community are fulfilled?

Our task force is not going to determine whether their demands are valid or not. We have already accepted their legitimacy. The task force will see how to overcome all obstacles and bring about the changes in a speedy manner.

The Congress has released a BC declaration. The BRS has a Dalit Bandhu scheme. Where does the BJP stand vis-a-vis Backward Classes?

We have decided that if the party is voted to power, our CM will be from the Backward Castes. Telangana never had a BC CM. There was a CM from the SC community for some time. BCs form 55% of the population. Every community wants its own members as the next MP/MLA/CM. That’s why we have committed to a CM from the BC community.

After Independence, PM Modi was the first BC Prime Minister of the country and he is running a successful government.

The Congress has made a series of declarations for the SCs, BCs, minorities etc. Why has there been no Congress CM from the BC community? It’s a matter of shame. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, too, had promised to make a Dalit the CM of the state. What happened to that? The BJP does what it says.

This article first appeared here on News18.com.

(Edited by : Kakoli Mukherjee)