Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, took a dig at the Congress saying that there are around five to six Congress leaders vying for the Chief Minister’s post ahead of the November 30 assembly elections.

“On one side, there is KCR (K Chandrashekhar Rao) who fought for Telangana for 14 years and achieved it and on the other side there are five to six Congress leaders who want to be Chief Minister,” KTR said while addressing a booth committee meeting in Hyderabad’s LB Nagar on Sunday.

Taunting the probable Congress Chief Ministerial candidates, KTR said that while Bhatti Vikramarka has stitched new dhotis, Revanth Reddy stitched a new ‘Lalchi’ pyjama, Uttam Kumar Reddy has trimmed and coloured his beard.

“They are getting new thoughts daily. Jana Reddy who is not contesting in this election wants to become Chief Minister. Not only Jana Reddy but Bhatti Vikramarka also. He even stitched new Dhotis. Revanth Reddy stitched a new Lalchi pyjama. Uttam Kumar trimmed his beard and coloured it. Jagga Reddy also wants to become Chief Minister,” KTR said.

The Telangana Minister said that these leaders have even painted their houses.

“There are six to seven leaders ready in the Congress who want to be the Chief Minister. They even painted their houses…,” KTR said.

KTR however pointed out that this competition among the Congress Chief Minister probables is not a new phenomenon as it happened in the last polls as well.

“They are saying that they are winning, but it is not new to us. They did the same in 2018 by saying they will win and KCR will lose. It is the same build-up. But nothing happened,” he said.

KTR said that in the 2018 polls, KCR won 25 more seats and people made him the Chief Minister for the second time. He added that this will repeat this time as well.

“KCR got 25 seats more and people made him CM again, it’s certain this time too,” he said.

Assembly elections in Telangana will be held on November 30 and counting of votes will take place on December 3. Telangana is set to witness an intriguing triangular contest between the BRS, Congress, and BJP.

In the previous Assembly elections in 2018, the BRS won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress finished a distant second with 19 seats and a vote share of 28.7 per cent.

Israel summoned the Russian ambassador on Sunday to lodge a protest at Moscow’s hosting last week of a delegation from Hamas, the Palestinian group whose October 7 attack on Israel killed at least 1,400 people and led to the war in Gaza.

Inviting Hamas “sends a message legitimising terrorism against Israelis,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, quoting its senior staff as telling Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov. It described the summons as a protest rather than a reprimand.

Russia had described its hosting of Hamas as an effort to maintain contact with all sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Politicians usually receive requests for jobs, administrative work and monetary help for weddings and medical emergencies. But what Nagaland BJP president Temjen Imna Along got is out of the ordinary.

A young man urged Mr Along for financial assistance ahead of his first date with his “dream girl”.

In a mail, one Arabinda Panda said, “Sir, on 31 October I am going to date my dream girl for the first time but still I don’t have a job yet. So kindly need a little help. Sir, please do something.” 

Sharing a screenshot of the mail on X, the state BJP chief asked, “Batao main Kya Karu (Tell me what should I do)?” 

The post elicited funny reactions on the internet. One advised the Along to go on the date in place of him, while another urged him to sponsor their date. An X user also said that the “lover boy” should be made an MLA, while several others requested Along to help him get a job.

There were pieces of advice for the youth too. He was asked to read a book titled ‘The Art of Being Alone’ or to marry the girl of his parents’ choice.

However, not everyone is amused. Those netizens said the youth should be ignored as he needs to learn the hard facts of life.