HYDERABAD: Tech giants like Apple and Samsung were interested in setting shop in Telangana, but they have dropped the idea due to certain “conditions” put forward by IT Minister KT Rama Rao, alleged AICC secretary RC Khuntia. He alleged that corruption, in the form of kickbacks, was the reason for these two companies to back out.
“The two companies did not agree to the proposal and backed out,” he said, adding that such corrupt practices had caused Telangana to lose out on investments. In an interaction with Express, Khuntia questioned the TRS government why it failed to generate investments in the State. "States like Odisha got investments to the tune of Rs 4 lakh crores. In the last four years, what investment has TRS government brought to the State? Presently, there is a burden of Rs 2 lakh crore on the people of Telangana,’’ he said. Listing out failures of KCR-led TRS government, Khuntia said the State government could neither keep up its assurance of granting 12 per cent reservation for minorities nor provide reservations to SC/STs.
“Even the big talk over double bedroom houses fell flat as they could construct a mere 2300 houses instead of the promised Rs 2.6 lakh. As many as 1,200 students committed suicide for Telangana. What has Chandrasekhar Rao done for them ? There are no jobs and the youths of the state are determined to teach a lesson to TRS,” he said.
Stating that Chandrasekhar Rao was a “dalal’’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the senior Congress leader said that Telangana came into being only due to Congress and its leader Sonia Gandhi. "Back then (when the Telangana agitation was going on), Chandrasekhar Rao fell at the feet of Sonia Gandhi while Rahul Gandhi stood by her side and he wanted to dissolve his party and join Congress. But our party did not agree then and that was a mistake,’’ he pointed out.
Taking on Chandrasekhar Rao over the Rythu Bandhu scheme, Khuntia said that the care taker Chief Minister should declare how much money was actually given to farmers and what was the amount he spent only on advertisements for the scheme, both in national and local media.
"There are 60 per cent landlords in Telangana who received money under the scheme. But the tenant farmers were the ones who suffered as they had to pay the landlords Rs 10,000 which ended up in the farmers losing out. Moreover, one lakh farmers working as migrant labourers in Dubai did not receive the cheques and the government wanted them to come all the way to Hyderabad to receive it. Can’t the government simply deposit the money in their bank accounts?’’ he wondered. He went on to say that during the TRS rule, sand and liquor mafia had a field day. “In Sircilla alone, nine people have been killed by sand mafia.’’
Khuntia said that nearly 1.5 lakh government posts are vacant while the government was only interested in filling up the posts in police department so that they can harass their opponents by registering false cases. “We want social justice for weaker sections and once we come to power, we will ensure that more jobs are created besides ensuring that more investment comes to the state, something the TRS has failed in miserably,’’ he said.
RaGa to visit TS this month
Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Telangana this month and the party has planned for one meeting each in all of the districts. "This time we are focused on door-to-door campaigning, highlighting the failures of the TRS government,” said RS Khuntia. TRS is working as an agent of PM Narendra Modi and BJP, he accused. “KCR met Modi thrice in the recent past. What gain has he brought to the State?’’