SANGAREDDY: Focusing his entire attack on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, All India Congress Committee (AICC) vice president Rahul Gandhi, on his visit to the state on Thursday, called for his party cadre to build another “movement” to liberate Telangana from the “clutches” of Rao’s family, “which is working for contractors and land mafia”.
The Gandhi-Nehru scion, while blowing the bugle for the state Assembly elections, amid talks of early polls, hit out strongly at the CM, popularly known as KCR, branding the TRS rule as one led by one “family” to realise its “own” dream and not the dreams of 3.5 crore people.
Gandhi had descended on the State, created by the Congress-led UPA government in 2014, on Thursday to instil confidence in his party workers. Speaking from a dais of the Ambedkar Stadium in Sangareddy, he evoked memories of his grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had addressed a public meeting from here in 1979 before going on to lead the Congress to victory in the 1980 general elections.
The AICC second-in-command, this time, posed questions to the gathering of over a lakh, asking if the dream of Telangana had been achieved. He attempted to strike a chord with every section of the electorate, specifically farmers and unemployed youth, by mentioning the “unfulfilled promises” of the TRS.
During his 46-minute speech, Gandhi, who was visiting the State a week after BJP national president Amit Shah’s tour focused on projected the KCR government as autocratic, one “which works for realising the dreams of a single person, by trampling on the rights of all other people on land, water and other resources in the State.”
Accusing KCR of shattering the dream of Telangana, Gandhi said that the people of the region had demanded statehood in order to enjoy their rights on land, water and other resources. “But, one family in the State is exercising its right on all resources,” he charged.
Interestingly, at a time when BJP is undertaking a 15-day Karya Vistar Yojana programme, to expand its base by sending 8,000 leaders and workers to each household in the State, the AICC vice-president too asked his party cadre to undertake door-to-door visits in every nook and cranny of the State to ensure the Congress came to power in 2019.
“Go to every village and visit every household to convey the Congress message,” he told them, while asking Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy to lead a new movement to ensure the dream of Telangana was realised.
Invoking Indira, Rahul says state is being run by one family
AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi, while invoking his grandmother Indira Gandhi, branded the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in the State as one run by a ‘family’ for the sake of ‘four persons’.
Speaking from the dais of Praja Garjana, Rahul said unlike TRS, Congress does not run governments on individuals. “Our party runs the government based on feedback from all MPs, MLAs and other elected representatives. We listen to everyone to run the government. We run your government,” he said.
The AICC second-in-command said, “Congress is not one family’s party. This is Telangana’s party.”
Addressing a mammoth gathering from the Ambedkar Stadium on Thursday evening, Rahul Gandhi said while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to give 2 crore jobs, Telangana Chief Minister KCR promised to give one job to each family. However, both of them failed to honour their promises, he criticised.
Hence, Rahul asked the youth to question both Modi and KCR on their failure to provide jobs. He said state government should be asked to open factories to create more jobs. If they fail, the Congress will provide an answer, he said. He also announced that after returning to power, the Congress government will ensure that the phones and other products would carry the mark of “Made in Telangana” and “Made In India”. “We don’t make false promises. We know how to deliver and will do that after returning to power,” he added. He also criticised TRS for not implementing the Fee Reimbursement scheme.
Rahul Gandhi criticised both KCR and Modi governments for not implementing the Land Acquisition Act 2013. He accused the duo of scrapping away the Act. Firing salvos at KCR, he said the TS CM is the only leader across the world who had constructed a luxurious mansion for himself by spending `350 crore of people’s money. “No leader in the world would have such a costly house. This was your money. This money belonged to Telangana’s farmers. It was the money which was to be paid for fee reimbursement,” he said.
KCR’s niece defects from Congress to BJP
Hyderabad: On a day when AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi was touring the state, the BJP on Thursday successfully poached TPCC official spokesperson Regulapati Ramya Rao, who is the niece of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, to its fold. Ramya announced she decided to join BJP as she believed that Telangana would be developed only under the leadership of Modi. According to sources, the saffron party’s central leadership is making efforts to woo some other leaders from the Congress to its fold to weaken its ‘national rival’ at the grassroots level in the state