Before the Munugode by-election in Telangana, the conflict between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) grew more heated after unknown individuals dug a “grave” of BJP’s national president JP Nadda. The diggers alleged that Regional Fluoride Mitigation and Research Center is yet to be set up in the Choutuppal area in Munugode in the Nalgonda district. Notably, BRS was formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).
Images showed a covered-up grave with garlands of flowers on it. A photograph of JP Nadda was put on the ‘grave’, and a banner saying ‘Regional Fluoride Mitigation and Research Center, Choutuppal’ was also placed. Although the identity of the persons who did it is not known, the state BJP has blamed BRS for it.
Telangana | Unidentified persons dug a grave & symbolically buried BJP president JP Nadda alleging that Regional Fluoride Mitigation & Research Center is yet to be set up in Choutuppal area in Munugode, Nalgonda district pic.twitter.com/g2aB5EDblF
— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2022
Telangana BJP leader NV Subhash said, “BJP requested TRS govt about JP Nadda accepting there will be fluoride institute in Munugode, even after repeated requests, TRS govt has gone blind & deaf. As they’ve failed & don’t have any issue, they raked up this issue before the bypoll.”
BJP requested TRS govt about JP Nadda accepting there will be fluoride institute in Munugode, even after repeated requests, TRS govt has gone blind & deaf. As they’ve failed & don’t have any issue, they raked up this issue before the bypoll: BJP leader NV Subhash pic.twitter.com/QNRcyrXeLg
— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2022
About digging the grave of the national president of his party, BJP leader NV Subhash said, “Digging a grave & putting a picture of JP Nadda is stupidity. We condemn it and will file a police complaint.”
Telangana | Digging a grave & putting a picture of JP Nadda is stupidity. We condemn it and will file a police complaint: BJP leader NV Subhash pic.twitter.com/zWO7Nqqifd
— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2022
BJP’s Andhra Pradesh state general secretary Vishnu Vardhan Reddy said, “This is despicable! TRS workers made a grave of our Hon’ble President which is beyond disgusting even going by TRS party standards. Everyone knows KT Rao is frustrated with the growing strata of BJP but imagine if 18 crore members of BJP start doing the same to TRS!”
This is despicable!
— Vishnu Vardhan Reddy (@SVishnuReddy) October 20, 2022
TRS workers made a grave of our Hon’ble President which is beyond disgusting even going by @trspartyonline std.
Everyone knows @KTRTRS is frustrated with growing strata of @BJP4India but imagine if 18 crore members of BJP starts doing same to TRS!@blsanthosh pic.twitter.com/cdDP6x6nTA
In a video he posted online, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy shows the location near Malkapur where the grave may be seen. Near the grave, there is also a photo of the BJP leader and a sign that reads, “Regional Fluoride Mitigation & Research Center, Choutuppai.” According to reports, this was a reaction to the failure to establish the Regional Fluoride Mitigation and Research Center (RFMRC) despite Nadda’s commitment to do so in 2016 while he served as the Union Health Minister.
The project was proposed to undertake research on the fluoride content in water and its impact on human beings. Along with it, a 100-bed hospital to exclusively treat fluoride victims is also part of the Rs 100 crore project. The union govt in 2012 had decided to set up two RFMRCs in the country, one at Nalgonda in Telangana and the other one in Gujarat. The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, was tasked with the implementation of the project. The district administration and NIN had identified 10-acre land at Dandumalkapur village very close to NH-65, near the state capital. But due to various reasons, the project has not been implemented even after a decade.
By winning four Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 General Election, 48 wards in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, and the Dubbak and Huzurabad by-elections, the BJP has become a massive force in Telangana politics. Due to this, KC Rao has increased his criticism of the BJP and PM Modi on a variety of topics and has voiced a desire to bring together other political groups in recent months. Since May, he has met with a number of opposition figures, including Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, HD Deve Gowda of the JDS, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, and Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar.
On October 5, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao changed the name of his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi, indicating his advent into national politics. The general body meeting of the party, which was presided over by KC Rao, adopted a resolution in this regard. The Election Commission of India was subsequently informed of the name change by a letter from the TRS general secretary. He also noted that the general body meeting had made the required changes to the party constitution. Elections for the Telangana Assembly will take place in December 2023. But a year before that, as the by-election of Munugode approaches, the two parties BRS and BJP stand against each other on the issue of the BRS workers allegedly digging the grave of BJP’s national president JP Nadda.
