TRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao seems to be in no mood to spare former minister Etala Rajender.

KCR took over Etala’s health portfolio and later he dismissed him from the cabinet. All this happened within hours last week.

Speculations are rife in TRS circles that KCR is now planning to disqualify Etala from Legislative Assembly.

As per plan, the TRS will file a complaint with Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy to disqualify Etala for resorting to ‘anti party activities’.

Since Speaker anyway belongs to TRS and most loyal to KCR, he cannot say no to this complaint and disqualify him.

With this, Etala will lose even MLA post. This will result in bypoll for Huzurabad Assembly constituency within six months.

TRS senior leader Etela Rajender on Monday (today) said he will quit from his MLA post but he will do that only after consulting the people in his Huzurabad constituency besided his supporters and well wishers.

Addressing his first press conference after he was sacked from cabinet by CM KCR over charges of encroaching assigned lands, Etala said, “TRS has given me B-form six times and I won. B-form is not everything. All candidates who get B-form don’t win. One needs people support to win election. But tomorrow TRS leaders may say I have won on car symbol and therefore I should quit MLA post. I will definitely resign but before that I will consult my people, leaders and supporters in my constituency and seek their opinion and what to do?”

If Etela resigns, one more bypoll will be on the offing in Telangana in other six months.

Etela denied encroachment of assigned lands and said the inquiry report framing him was prepared by officials on the directions of CM KCR.

He demanded inquiry on his lands and assets by a sitting judge.

There have been stories and rumours about Eetela Rajender having strained relation with Chief Minister KCR since quite some. But the sudden and continuous stories in pro KCR media against Eetela shocked his fans. Those stories about land grabbing allegations on the Telangana health minister Eetela Rajender stirred the state as people also got shocked at such allegations on the leader who has a clean image so far. With all this, his political future has become a topic of discussion in the political circles.

Rajender is a key leader in the party since its inception and has been a minister since the formation of the TRS government. He was a student leader before joining politics. In 2004, he won as MLA from Kamalapur constituency in Karimnagar district. He served as party leader in the assembly in the initial days as KCR was in parliament at the time. He was a close aide of KCR from the beginning and got the key finance ministry after the formation of Telangana in 2014. It was rumored that, in 2018, when KCR formed the government for the second time, he was not willing to give him the ministry and it was only after lot of dilly-dallying KCR gave him the ministry .

However, gradually the differences between KCR and Eetela increased. There were different stories behind the reasons for this. But, it is learned that over the past few months, several ministers and leaders have complained to the CM that the remarks made by Eetela in various meetings revealing his dissatisfaction are against the government. The views expressed by Eetela Rajender on various occasions in recent times, especially in his own constituency, have become a topic of discussion in the party. His comments that, ‘no one is the owner of the party’ seems to have not gone well with party high command. Also, his remarks in Huzurabad during the assembly sessions caused a stir. It is known news that KTR took him to Pragati Bhavan on the instructions of the CM and asked about the remarks. Eetela is reported to have said that he did not say anything against the government.

However, the party chief seems to be of the opinion that Eetela did not mend his ways even after several warnings and it looks like the latest developments are just KCR’s way of handling things. But there’s a debate going on in political circles about his future. We need to wait and see what steps Rajender will take and how will be his political future.

Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender said on Friday that he is ready to face probe by a sitting judge, CBI or any other institution with regard to the allegations of land grabbing levelled against him.

Addressing a news conference a couple of hours after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ordered a probe into the allegations of land grabbing levelled by some villagers of Medak district, Rajender demanded the government to order a comprehensive inquiry to bring out the truth.

“Let there be an inquiry by a sitting judge, CBI or any institution into my character and my assets. If I am found guilty, I am ready to face any punishment,” he said.

Rajender also said that self-respect is more important to him than any post. When asked if he would resign as a minister, he said the probe into the allegations against him has to be completed first.

Earlier, the Chief Minister had instructed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to get an inquiry done by the district collector on the complaints of encroachment of lands on the outskirts of Achampet in Masaipet Mandal in Medak district.

The CM also instructed Vigilance DGP Purnachandra Rao to find out the truth with regard to the allegations.

The Chief Minister ordered the probe after some farmers in Medak district submitted a complaint to him, alleging that the Health Minister forcibly took over 100 acres of their assigned lands to start a poultry industry.

Eight villagers from Achampet and Hakimpet villages had alleged that the minister and his followers had taken over their lands to start a poultry industry. They sought the intervention of the CM and appealed to him to ensure that the assigned lands given to them by the government are restored to them immediately.

The land grab charge against the Health Minister sent shockwaves in the political circles at a time when the state is in the grip of an intense Covid wave.

This is the first time that a minister in the TRS government faced allegations of land grabbing and the victims directly approached the Chief Minister against the minister following which an inquiry was ordered immediately.

Rajender, however, denied any wrongdoings and alleged that it is a planned attempt for his character assassination. He did not say who is behind this.

He said the people of Telangana have seen his clean image throughout the Telangana movement.

“When hundreds of students of Osmania University and other universities were arrested and we saved them, nobody asked where the money came from. There should also be an inquiry against those who came on a scooter and overnight made hundreds of crores,” he said without naming any leader.

He also alleged that attempts are being made to target him in the name of caste.

The Health Minister said that some people surrendered their 20-25 acres of land to the authorities so that the same could be allotted for the expansion of the Jamuna Hatcheries set up by his son in 2016.

Rajender said since the government was allotting lands and giving subsidies for setting up industries, he too had approached the Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office, Narsing Rao, to suggest a way out as the lands surrounding the hatchery were assigned lands which nobody could sell or purchase.

He said Narsing Rao had told him that if the owners surrendered the lands to the government, the same could be allotted to the hatchery through the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC).

The minister said the owners of the assigned lands signed the surrender documents and gave the same to the Mandal Revenue Officer.

“At present the land is with the government. I have not occupied a single acre of assigned land. The allegations against me are false,” he said.

Rajender also claimed that he and his wife had started poultry business in 1986 and they ran the business professionally and with honesty.

Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender on Saturday decided not to take Covid vaccine, following a suggestion from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to politicians to give priority to healthcare workers.

The minister was scheduled to take the vaccine at Gandhi hospital on the first day.

Following the national rollout of the programme by the Prime Minister, Rajender formally launched vaccination at the hospital but returned without taking the jab.

Minister for Industry and Information Technology K.T. Rama Rao later told reporters that the decision was taken on the Prime Minister’s suggestion.

“I am the captain of this (health) department,” Rajender had remarked while defending his decision to inoculate himself, at a news conference on Friday evening.

However, the health minister changed his mind after Modi’s suggestion. Following requests of politicians from some states, the Prime Minister advised them to wait and give preference to healthcare workers.

Public representatives are ready to take the vaccine but they will wait in view of the Prime Minister’s suggestion, said Rama Rao after inaugurating the vaccination at a centre at Tilak Nagar in Hyderabad.

A total of 4,000 healthcare workers are taking the vaccine at 139 centres across Telangana on Saturday.

Telangana reported six additional cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, a continued downward trend in new infections in the state even as the corona numbers in the country are in the acceleration phase.

Health Minister Etela Rajender said the additional cases increased the state’s total to 1009. He said 374 patients have recovered and released from quarantine and that 610 are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Telangana. Death toll due to Covid-19 remained at 25.

The Health Minister said there has been a steady decline in the number of coronavirus cases. “The numbers remained in single digits since March 21,” Etela announced. He said that the Covid-19 positive cases curve has almost started flattening in the last few day” and that the novel coronavirus situation is under control in the state.

Etela said the Telangana government ruled out conducting corona tests using the rapid testing kits. “We don’t know how many of the kits are faulty, we are not sure of the efficacy of the testing kits. We have already seen that the Chinese rapid testing kits were found to be faulty. Therefore, our chief minister Chandraskehara Rao garu is against procuring rapid testing kits.”

Further, the state government will also not permit the private laboratories for Covid-19 testing as they charge exorbitantly. He trashed criticism that the government was not conducting enough tests to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Since the outbreak of the virus, Telangana government has enforced one of the stringent measures in the state to contain the spread. It was in fact the first state to announce several restrictions such as closing down schools, shutting cinema halls, malls, gyms and banned public gatherings. It was the first state to invoke the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.

The Telangana government also constituted a committee of experts to study the measures needed to control incidence of coronavirus in the state and to suggest steps based on successful models from the world over.
Chandrasekhar Rao was the only chief minister in the country to state that he would have no other option but to order the police to shoot-at-sight for violating locdown regulations. He also warned that he would impose a 24-hour curfew if the people of the state continued to disobey lockdown orders. “If people don’t follow coronavirus lockdown, a situation may arise where we’ll have to impose 24-hour curfew and issue shoot-at-sight orders. I urge people not to let such a situation arise,” Rao had said at a press briefing in early April. Several stringent measures were initiated in Telangana. The government announced that secondary contacts will be placed in home quarantine for 28 days. Further, the government had announced that those violating home quarantine protocol will also face passport seizure.

The government had put in place cluster containment strategy to contain the virus within a defined geographic area by early detection of cases, breaking the chain of transmission and thus preventing its spread to new areas. A total of 212 areas across Telangana were declared as virus containment clusters in Telangana. Around 4,000 teams were consituted to enforce quarantine, surveillance, testing suspected cases, quarantine of contacts and isolation of cases.

While KCR took the pandemic seriously, Jagan dealt with it way too casually right from the beginining despite early warnings from the Opposition leaders like N Chandrababu Naidu. The casual approach reflected in Jagan’s personal beliefs and views on corona. Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Jagan said about corona virus, “It is not as bad as the seasonal flu. It is like fever. It will go if you take proper care, wear masks, take proper diet and improve your immunity. If you take these steps, you can fight corona,” he prescribed. The result: Andhra Pradesh has been witnessing an alarming rise in number of corona cases. The number of novel coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh has climbed to 1,259 after over 82 fresh cases were recorded on Tuesday morning. The death toll due to Covid-19, meanwhile, remained at 31. The surge in number of cases was because of the lopsided policies of the Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy who consistently downplayed the public health risk of the burgeoning pandemic while the state administration has been slow to respond to the crisis. The Oppoisition leaders like Chandrababu Naidu squarely blamed the state government’s lack of foresight in tackling the virus. The government had spent much of its time in vendetta politics, was more focussed on elections to civic bodies than containing corona virus apart from being caught in a vortex of legal battles and personal attacks against political detractors.

Telangana Health Minister E. Rajender here on Saturday said attacks on doctors and other healthcare professionals, fighting coronavirus battle, would not be tolerated and stringent action would be taken against culprit.

“We will take strong action and culprit will not be spared,” Rajender said referring to the recent attacks on doctors at state-run Gandhi and Osmania hospitals here. He said doctors were staying away from their families to do their duties and risking their own lives to save others.

Two days ago, the Hyderabad Police arrested three persons, including a Covid-19 patient, for attacking doctors.

Rajender also attended a blood donation camp, organised by the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association. Around 200 people donated blood at the camp.

Pointing to blood shortage at hospitals, the Minister said Thalassemia patients were suffering due to this and appealed donors to come forward to help overcome the shortage.

Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender who held a review meeting on Thursday to take stock of the situation arising out of corona virus expressed anguish that several people from the state who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation at Markaz Masjid in South Delhi’s Nizamuddin were not voluntarily coming forward for medical tests despite repeated appeals by the government.

Speaking to mediapersons on Thursday, he said a single family of 20 members in Old City’s Talab Katta contracted the virus after they came in contact with a person who had attended the Markaz congregation. He appealed to the people who had attended the Markaz congregation to cooperate with the government in its efforts to contain the spread of corona virus by voluntarily coming forward for medical tests. Telangana on Thursday recorded 50 new cases of Covid-19, taking the state’s total count to 700. Among the total people infected as on date, 120 have recovered and 18 deaths were reported till now. The Health Minister insisted that not a single local case of corona was reported in the state and that most of the positive cases are either due to Tablighi Jamaat attendees or foreign returnees.

“The state government is doing its bit in trying to track and trace the persons who attended the gathering at Nizamuddin and also identifying the secondary contacts. They should realize that one person can drastically spread the virus. I request the attendees to voluntarily report to the officials. We will conduct tests for them and provide them with free treatment,” he appealed.

Stating that the new corona hospital at the Gachibowli Sports Village in Hyderabad will be inaugurated on April 20, he said the hospital has modern infrastructure with 1,500 beds. Rubbishing criticism from certain quarters that there was a shortage of medical equipment, he said the government was procuring 10 lakh PPEs and 10 lakh N95 masks which will be given not just to the medical fraternity but also police force.

The total number of corona cases in the state climbed to 471 with 18 fresh positive cases reported on Thursday, Telangana health minister Etela Rajender informed.

Addressing a press conference, he said the Telangana government had initiated tough measures with an aim to become corona-free state by April 7, but unfortunately the state had witnessed a sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases only after people from Telangana who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin area were found infected.

Holding attendees of Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi responsible for the spike in corona virus cases in the state, Etela Rajender said, “Otherwise, Telangana by now would have been a corona-free state.” Of the 471 positive corona cases, Rajender said 388 cases are Jamaat attendees from the state, he said. “Had there been no Tablighi Jamaat incident, the state would have overcome the problem,” he said referring to the spurt in corona cases after many Tablighi Jamaat meeting returnees and their family members tested positive during the last few days. “The other cases are all foreign returnees. There is not a single local case,” he said.

More than 1,300 people from the state had attended the Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin and returned to Telangana and around 26,000 foreign returnees who returned from various countries were quarantined so far. The health minister said 414 people are undergoing treatment in various hospitals. “Only one patient is on ventilator,” Etela Rajender said.