Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhara Rao has successfully blackmailed the the Telangana Joint Action Committee to extend its support to TRS candidate Bhikshapathi in Parkal assembly by-elections.

Though a majority of the Telangana JAC leaders suggested that it should remain neutral, its chairman Prof M Kodandaram had to succumb to KCR’s pressure tactics and convince his colleagues that the JAC should support the TRS at least for the present by-elections in Parkal, as there is every possibility that a split in the Telangana vote would ultimately help YSR Congress party candidate Konda Surekha and it would in turn lead to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy establish his presence in the Telangana region.

“We do not want any mileage to Konda Surekha because of the fight between the TRS and the BJP candidates. Though we wanted to be neutral, we had to extend the support to the TRS based on the people’s aspirations and also to see that the Telangana vote does not split. However, this support to the TRS is only for the Parkal election,” Kodandaram clarified.

The JAC support to the TRS came as a shock to the TDP and the BJP, which are now planning to split their supporting groups from the JAC. “The TJAC has become a mouth-piece of the TRS. We will form a separate JAC with like-minded Telangana groups and parties,” TDP leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao said.