HYDERABAD: Ahead of the Huzurnagar Assembly byelection, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said there was not much difference between the BJP and the Congress. “They are much of the muchness (dondu donde),” he said, launching a stinging attack on both parties.
Rao, in his reply on the debate on the Appropriation Bill in the Assembly, said the BJP and the Congress would fold up when the TRS government launches just two more welfare schemes.
He demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah withdraw the comments they had made in the past, which hurt the sentiments of the people of Telangana. “Narendra Modi described the formation of Telangana state as ‘a baby having been born even as its mother died’. Amit Shah termed it as a ‘dark day’,” Rao recalled.
“It is a question of self-respect for Telangana. Both Modi and Shah should withdraw their comments, as they humiliated the people of Telangana,” he added.
“If the BJP came to power in the state, it would replace Aarogyasri with Ayushman Bharat. Rythu Bandhu would be replaced by PM Samman. Under PM Samman, farmers would get only respect, not money. We are giving farmers `10,000 per acre. Schemes like KCR Kits, Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya, Aasara, Kalyana Lakshmi and 24X7 power supply will be stopped. No BJP-ruled state has implemented these schemes,” Rao said.
The chief minister even said the BJP government at the Centre has done nothing for the state. “Navodaya schools are not sanctioned to new districts. No action has been taken on the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR). The annual funds of `450 crore to backward districts have not been released. The Centre ignored Niti Aayog’s recommendation to give `24,000 crore to Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya,” Rao recalled.
BJP leaders are only talking big, but haven’t taken any action to help the state, Rao alleged. “Yemi leni vaariki etulu ekkuva” (It’s all hat and no cattle), Rao said.
Coming down on the Congress like a ton of bricks for all the ills of the state, Rao said the people had rejected the party as they could not bear it anymore. “If the Congress and the BJP came to power, their local leaders will not have any voice. The local leaders of the Congress and BJP would hold an umbrella in the state when it is raining in Delhi,” Rao quipped.
Lashing out at the Congress, he said that because of the party’s five-decade lopsided rule at the Centre, states were pushed into backwardness. He advised CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka not to oppose development schemes. “It will be a loss for you, if you try to belittle us,” Rao said.