Seeking to stop the TRS in its tracks, the Congress has, for the first time, launched a frontal attack on the “credibility” of the regional party, particularly its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. In contrast to the “soft speech” delivered by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at Karimnagar the other day, her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday sought to impress upon the people that the TRS is a party that cannot be trusted.
Speaking in conversational Hindi, punctuated with enough pauses, to ensure that the message is absorbed, Rahul said the TRS and its chief (whom he did not wish to identify) would “stab” the Telangana people much like the way they knifed the Congress.
Addressing public meetings in Mahbubnagar and Dichpally in Nizamabad district, he narrated a hitherto unknown episode that unfolded in Delhi soon after the Telangana Bill was passed in Parliament. Apparently, KCR and family paid Rahul a visit and thanked him and his mother for carving out a separate State of Telangana. “He (KCR) shook hands with me and promised to stand by the party (Congress). After the handshakes, he went out and returned to request me for a hug and I obliged. He again repeated the promise that he would be with the Congress in developing the new State,” Rahul recalled.
After a pause, he added, “If only it was just a matter of handshakes, I would not have bothered. Magar woh galey miley, bahar aayey aur chaku mara (But, he hugged me, went out and stabbed us).” Amidst applause from the gathering, he recalled how KCR had also promised to make a Dalit the first chief minister of Telangana, only to renege on it.
“Jaise woh Congress ko jhoot bola, aap ko bhi jhoot bola (just as he lied to the Congress, he also lied to you).” And then, he questioned what value or credibility would any of the promises being made by the TRS carry. Conscious that the people of Telangana are dreaming of a better future in a new State, Rahul made it a point to emphasize that all such dreams would be fulfilled only if the Congress was elected. “You need to support parties like Congress which have a vision. You need to support leaders like Sonia who believe in what they say and promise.”
Comparing the Congress with TRS, he said Congress and its leadership are such that “ek baar, wachan diya, mar jaaye magar wachan na toote (Will stick to the word unto death).”