Hyderabad: Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Tuesday accused Congress and INDIA bloc leaders of creating confusion among people over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and attempting to cast doubt on the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI). He said Congress leaders were trying to give the impression that there were differences among members of the ECI, despite the poll panel clarifying after a Sept 26 meeting that there were no differences between CEC Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.He said Congress’ current opposition to SIR was inconsistent with earlier statements by some of its leaders, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sachin Pilot, who had spoken positively about the exercise. He also referred to Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala’s earlier remarks on SIR in Kerala.The state BJP chief said SIR was intended to clean up electoral rolls and prevent bogus votes while protecting the rights of eligible voters. He urged people not to believe what he described as misinformation being spread by Congress. Questioning Congress’ earlier criticism of EVMs, Rao said the party’s position appeared to change depending on electoral outcomes. He also alleged that Congress govts had made appointments to the ECI and provided post-retirement benefits to some officials, while the present appointment system involved an opposition leader and a Supreme Court judge. He said attempts to discredit constitutional institutions for political gain were not appropriate and alleged that Congress was undermining public confidence in India’s electoral system.Rao objects to Revanth’s remarksTelangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao criticised chief minister A Revanth Reddy over his alleged remarks contrasting Lord Shiva and Lord Ram, saying Shiva was the “god of the poor” and Ram the “god of the rich”. The CM made the remarks at an event in New Delhi on Monday. Reacting to the remarks, Ramchander Rao said Hindu deities should not be divided along economic or political lines and alleged that the CM was attempting to create divisions for political gain. He said the BJP would hold protests at mandal centres across Telangana against the remarks.
