HYDERABAD: Indirectly referring to the examination of former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the alleged phone-tapping case, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that anyone must face investigation for mistakes committed by him or her.
“In a democratic process, there is freedom for people and public representatives to express themselves within the limits of democracy, but there is no freedom to commit crime and demand that no investigation should be conducted.
There is no criminal freedom in a democracy. Telangana society should understand this distinction. When thousands of crores of rupees and hundreds of acres of land are illegally looted, investigation is essential. Have CMs such as Shibu Soren, J Jayalalithaa and Yediyurappa not faced investigation? We are not gods. In a democracy, anyone should face investigation for the mistakes committed by them,” he said.
On Monday, Revanth presented the Ravi Narayana Reddy National Award, instituted by the Telangana Martyrs Memorial Trust, to retired Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudershan Reddy.
‘When Modi can’t show certificate, how can poor?’
Addressing the gathering, Revanth criticised what he described as attempts by some individuals to project themselves as the “Father of Telangana” and as Telangana activists.
He said: “The police issued a notice to KCR, but they are saying that a notice to KCR means a notice to the entire Telangana society. They are also asking why Telangana activists are being insulted. Is Kodandaram not an activist? Kodandaram united all sections of people during the Telangana agitation. But the previous government harassed and insulted Kodandaram by arresting him after breaking open the doors of his residence.”
He said agitators, from Che Guevara to Ravi Narayana Reddy, had sacrificed their lives and assets for the people, while the KCR family had assumed all posts and accumulated large farmhouses, thousands of crores of rupees, TV channels and newspapers. “Then I do not understand how KCR can be called the Father of Telangana or a Telangana activist. If you are the agitator and Father of Telangana, then what should we call people like Ravi Narayana Reddy, Kodandaram and Justice Sudershan Reddy?” he asked.
Revanth alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attempting to introduce a “One Party–One Person” system in the name of One Nation–One Election. He said that during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP targeted winning over 400 seats with the intention of revoking the Constitution of India. When it failed in its objective, it conspired to implement SIR to remove the votes of those against it, he said.
He said: “Under SIR, they are asking citizens for details going back to their forefathers. Rahul Gandhi asked Modi to show his education certificate, but he is not showing it. What is the problem in showing the certificate? When the prime minister is unable to show his education certificate, how can poor and uneducated people collect details of their forefathers?”
Stating that people such as former Union minister Jaipal Reddy and Justice Sudershan Reddy were a source of inspiration to him, he said: “Politically, I was not closely associated with Jaipal Reddy. I was the reason for Jaipal Reddy losing the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by around 2,000 votes. But Jaipal Reddy never hated me. In 2019, I asked him to contest the Lok Sabha elections to correct my mistake in 2014. I told him that people like him were needed in Parliament when a fascist like Narendra Modi was ruling the country. However, instead of contesting, he said that as generations had changed, he would encourage the new generation.”
On the decision to announce Justice Sudershan Reddy as a candidate for the Vice-Presidential election, Revanth said: “AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi called me over the phone and said there was a need to teach a lesson to Modi and Amit Shah. They also informed me that they intended to announce the candidature of Justice Sudershan Reddy. We decided on his candidature because his integrity frightens Modi and Amit Shah.”