BJP Chevella candidate Konda Vishweshwar Reddy says that redistribution of wealth is a communist ideology that has failed economically throughout the world. Speaking to a TNIE team, the former MP — one of the richest candidates in this LS elections — noted that despite what Rahul Gandhi says, banking data shows that Congress governments used to give a significant chunk of loans to the wealthy. He says that Modi’s philosophy is the exact opposite and points out that since 2016–17, loans given to those at the bottom of the pyramid has increased 20 times.
Excerpts from the interview
How is your campaign going on? Ranjith Reddy is the incumbent MP. Now he has joined the Congress.
It is going on well. In fact, I started the campaign almost six months ago. We started with cultural events, Bhajana competitions in 600 villages... Much before my candidature was announced, one round of campaigning was over. Most of my campaigning is focused on rural areas where, in the Assembly polls, the results were very poor. Our ally Jana Sena got 4,000 votes. My target is 60,000 to one lakh. 65% of my time and efforts go into rural areas. The BJP is anyway strong in the city.
One of the major issues is inflation. How are the people receiving it? How are you explaining the role of the Modi government to the people?
In certain items, there is inflation. But is the inflation beyond income rise? In rural areas, it is not. In villages, before 2014, there used to be 10 to 15 motorcycles. Now every household has one. In rural areas, people are now going beyond basic necessities. They are going to Tirupati, and other yatras like never before.
Yes, there is inflation. But India has controlled inflation better than any other country. Take LPG cylinders for instance, the Modi government has ensured that price rise doesn’t affect the bottom-most layer. Inflation is an issue but no country has controlled it as well as India. And it is showing in rural spending. There is a huge surge in consumer goods sales than ever before in rural areas. They predicted this after PV Narasimha Rao revived the economy … it is really happening now.
Do you accept that the BRS government was successful in increasing the purchasing power of the people, at least partly?
In the last 10 years, living standards have improved. But who does the credit go to? Does it go to those who made the state bankrupt? Whatever little that comes is directly because of Prime Minister Modi’s and BJP’s policies — the Antyodaya story. I’m especially talking about the rural areas — 5 kg free rice, minimum support price. Urea, Rs 2,400 a bag, is given to farmers at Rs 270, almost a 90% subsidy. The Congress is talking about an increase in petrol prices from Rs 70 to Rs 100. But they are not talking about an increase in MNREGA amount from Rs 150 to Rs 300. Incomes have doubled while inflation increased by 20%. This is what I have been seeing in rural areas, the boom in FMCG sales. Development has occurred in Telangana and all over India. It happened despite KCR and his rule.
You recently asked parties to refrain from exploiting caste divisions for short-term political gains?
One of the most astute ‘caste politicians’ India has ever produced is KCR. And the BJP is totally against it. KCR’s policies reaffirmed that India is a caste-based system, from the policy side too. If you belong to certain communities, you were given sheep. Why can’t an SC become a shepherd? And why can’t a shepherd become a computer engineer or doctor? Only if he grazes sheep would he have benefitted from KCR’s schemes.
Let us look at the other extreme — the first time in India ever, a policy was introduced that suppresses expression of caste-related vocations. It is the Centre’s Vishwakarma Yojana. It is a scheme that promotes skills and gives loans for anybody who is doing work with their hands — a carpenter or a barber or a mestri. But how does the BJP define a barber? Not by his caste. The scheme is available not just for the Mangala community but for Hindus, Muslims, Christians and anyone who wants to set up a saloon. The BJP wants to suppress caste. This is what Dr Ambedkar wanted.
But the BJP leadership has been accused of using religious divisions to get votes. It is not just the BJP, the DMK has also been accused of doing so. Othering some community, whatever that community might be, is it necessary for electoral success?
In all parties, there are wise men. There are also absolute fools in all parties. One guy making a comment doesn’t change the policy of the BJP. We are against religion-based policies. If you take any policy of the BJP, Vishwakarma Yojana or Mudra or free rice, it goes to everyone. In fact, it is the Congress that is highly communal. They are doing false propaganda and radicalising educated Muslim youth — both men and women. One of the examples is CAA. The CAA is not against excluding anybody, it is about including people. Look at the Congress candidates here. They are openly announcing that we have four lakh Muslims votes and two lakh Christian votes in our constituency. Is that not communalising politics?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, recently in Telangana, spoke about redistribution of wealth. The PM is saying that Congress is out to take away your mangalsutras.
Rahul Gandhi has suddenly become a communist. Redistribution of wealth is a communist ideology that has failed economically throughout the world, has led to collapsing of economies. Whose wealth does he want to redistribute? Does he want to create or redistribute wealth? Has India reached a ceiling and the only way to uplift the poor is to become a Robin Hood? Does he know economics?
He might have meant he will tax the ultra-rich, like you.
That is already being done. Very high taxation increases black money, which is what happened during the Congress era. This ruined the country. There were times when 80% of the income was taxed. And what was happening? None of the Indian companies were owned fully by Indians. His father’s guardian Swraj Paul came as a corporate raider and wanted to take over all Indian companies. PSUs like SBI and LIC owned shares of these companies. He bought Rs 1 shares and SBI and LIC supported him in grabbing these companies.
Black money has now come down significantly and that is reflected in tax collections. That is because of this government’s economic policy, which reflects ancient wisdom — the RSS, BJP philosophy of Antyodaya which the Centre and Modi follow. This is very contradictory to the ideas of Raghuram Rajan, an out-and-out capitalist.
I happened to be on the select committee of Parliament on FRDI. The Congress policy, if you look at the banking data, was to give a significant chunk of the loans to the wealthy. In Chevella constituency, all the banks together, when I was the MP, were supposed to give at least Rs 2,000 crore to rural areas for smaller loans. They gave only 10% of that. Prior to 2016–17, the loans given to those at the bottom of the pyramid was tiny. It increased by 20-fold, not 20%, but 20-fold. Congress theory was giving it to the top guys — to the industrialists, who build factories … hoping it would reach those at the bottom. Modi’s was exactly opposite. And it’s reinforced by theories of Amartya Sen and modern economists
Rahul Gandhi is more or less saying the same thing.
He can say anything. But did he give them? They have no direction. The proof of the pudding is looking at the bank data.
What do you think of KCR’s marathon TV interview on a news channel, particularly regarding Kaleshwaram? He said Rs 150 crore is enough for repairs and making it operational.
I am campaigning and am not watching television. Kaleshwaram is the world’s biggest engineering failure. It has a number of components including Medigadda and the other barrages, the canals, the tunnels, etc. Every component is a problem. But if you fix every one of them, it is an even bigger problem. There is a systemic design problem.
That was the primary reason I left the TRS. I was given the greatest respect in TRS that nobody else got… not even KK. I was initially impressed by KCR because he had the geography and topology of Telangana at the back of his head. However, he is not an engineer and he cannot design it. But he designed the project himself. He undermined anybody who spoke against it. The Kaleshwaram design goes against all engineering fields and weather sciences too. KCR used barrages to store water. These structures are built on sand. When you use it to store water for more than a few weeks, water starts seeping into the sand. One occupational hazard of a politician is that we lose touch with reality as soon as we get power, no matter how sane we are. If I had that many people calling me Telangana jathipitha or Telangana mahatma, then I will probably be a worse demon than KCR. KCR played with Telangana like a child with a toy, he could not handle power.
Is Kaleshwaram project of any use or not? If the government repairs the barrages, can it be used?
Everyone in the Congress are good friends. The first thing I did was meet [Irrigation Minister] Uttam Kumar Reddy. It so happened that L&T guys were there and they were discussing repairing Medigadda. I told them that it is technically and politically wrong for you to even repair Medigadda.
Technically wrong because the barrage cannot be used as a reservoir. Politically wrong because by repairing something that is useless, you are reaffirming that KCR’s design was correct and by chance, three pillars sank. It took them time to understand it but they still didn’t get it. Nobody in the Congress knows about irrigation as much as KCR but he doesn’t know engineering.
How is Revanth Reddy implementing the six guarantees? Recently, he said that he will implement farm loan waiver by August 15.
He said December initially and now August. August, but not which year. Telangana is bankrupt. He has no money. At one time, Congress used to consult several senior leaders before coming up with a manifesto. This time, I don’t think the Telangana Congress or Revanth Reddy had any role or say in the six guarantees. Delhi Congress has brilliant people in its various committees. I know one of them, Prof Rajeev Gowda. The guarantees are not decided by any of them but by the paid election strategist. It is a pity to see the Congress fall to such a level.
In all the 17 LS seats in TG, Chevella stands apart. Out of the seven Assembly segments here, four are in rural areas, three are in urban areas.
Without any doubt, Chevella is the most diverse segment in the entire country. The most developed part of India is part of this segment and the most backward part too. There are about 1.4 lakh voters speaking Rajasthani, 60K to 70K voters who speak Kannada, we have another 30,000 voters who speak Marathi, they have been here for 400 years. We have a huge Urdu-speaking population. Then because of IT (sector), there are 25,000 people from every linguistic community in the constituency. I was born and brought up here. I hail from a rural background, but I never lost touch.
As part of Musi Riverfront Development Project, the Central government has agreed to give Rs 700 crore for the setting up of 39 Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs).
Musi is the stupidest priority. The cost is half of Kaleshwaram, Rs 50,000 crore. I am going to oppose the Centre’s move. First, you run your STPs fully. All the STPs are running at 10–20% capacity. Money should not be released until existing STPs are running at least above 80% capacity … And how will you clean Musi before cleaning Tank Bund? The Tank Bund sewage goes into Musi.
TNIE team: Kalyan Tholeti, Prasanna RS, VV Balakrishna, S Bachan Jeet Singh, Manda Ravinder Reddy, Navya Parvathy and Ajay Tomar