She was denied a ticket to contest from the Khanapur Assembly segment. The BRS has fielded Johnson Rathod Naik in the constituency.
Published Oct 06, 2023 | 8:35 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 06, 2023 | 8:44 PM
A Rekha Naik. (Facebook)
Khanapur MLA Ajmeera Rekha Naik resigned from the BRS on Friday, 6 October, saying she cannot continue in a party that does not respect or value women.
The BRS, which announced its list of candidates for the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections on 21 August, replaced Rekha Naik with Bhukya Johnson Rathod Naik. She was one among nine sitting MLAs who were denied seats.
“I fought for public issues. I was attacked when I visited isolated areas in my constituency but nobody ever enquired about it. The situation is different now. Since Bhukya Johnson is a friend of BRS working President KT Rama Rao, he has police protection, whenever he goes to villages for campaigning. This shows that there is no respect, or value for women in the BRS party,” she told the media.
“I am resigning from the party. I will walk house-to-house explaining the injustice meted out to me,” Naik said, adding that she might contest as an independent candidate.
Naik’s resignation came amidst reports that she and her husband, Shyam Naik, were seeking Congress tickets to contest from Khanapur and Asifabad seats, respectively.
Despite working 12 years for the party, Naik said she still had to meet Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to get funds for her municipality. “Though I invited KT Rama Rao to visit my municipality, he never showed up, saying he was travelling to another country. Is this because I am a woman,” she asked.
She further alleged that no official helped when the water level in the Kadem dam rose. “They said the villages will be washed away but I took a two-wheeler and even walked to the dam. Do you have any evidence against me for committing any corruption? They why this injustice,” she sought to know.
Naik said more than 1,000 two BHK houses for the poor were sanctioned for her constituency, but the party took away 500 and distributed them elsewhere. She further detailed the work she had carried out in the constituency.
She said the government had been ignoring her requests for the constituency. Recently I met CM KCR and asked for a 100-bed hospital. But Khanapur remains underdeveloped,” she said, adding that the party workers who had left her were now calling her a ‘sugar patient’ and a psycho.
Naik also questioned K Kavitha, who fought for the Women’s Reservation Bill, for not demanding more seats for women.
