Congress cheated minorities, sidelined leaders: BRS president KTR
HYDERABAD: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday said that the victory of its candidate Maganti Sunitha in the Jubilee Hills bypoll is a certainty.
“The BRS victory is a forgone conclusion. Only the margin of victory our candidate secures remains to be seen,” he said.
The former minister was addressing a meeting of minorities in Shamshabad. He accused the Congress government of hoodwinking the minorities as it did with the other sections of the society.
“The Congress failed to implement its Minority Declaration. Two years ago, it said it would allocate `4,000 crore annually for minority welfare and introduce a Minority Sub-Plan. But both these promises were broken. Two years have passed, and even in the next three years, they will not be able to deliver anything,” he said.
Rama Rao recalled that after the 2018 elections, BRS president K Chandraseekhar Rao made Mahmood Ali the deputy chief minister, giving proper representation to minorities.
“But in the Congress government, there isn’t a single minority MLA or MLC. Even leaders like Shabbir Ali and Azharuddin have been ignored. The party sidelined Azhar after promising him an MLC seat. In cricket, Azhar used to hit cut shots. Now, Revanth Reddy has cut Azharuddin himself,” he quipped.
Interacts with auto drivers
Earlier in the day, Rama Rao travelled in an auto-rickshaw in Hyderabad to personally learn about the problems and hardships being faced by auto drivers, especially after the implementation of free bus travel scheme for women.
While on his way from Jubilee Hills Checkpost to Telangana Bhavan, he spoke with auto driver Mashrath Ali and enquired about his financial situation and living conditions.
Mashrath Ali said that before the Congress came to power, during the election campaign, he personally drove Rahul Gandhi around. However, after that, he was forced to sell his two auto-rickshaws and work as a daily-wage auto driver to make ends meet.
Moved by Mashrath Ali’s plight, Rama Rao strongly condemned the Congress’ betrayal and deceit, stating that the BRS, as the opposition, would continue to hold the government accountable and exert pressure to ensure that the promises made to auto drivers are fulfilled.
Former minister T Harish Rao, who reached Telangana Bhavan from Erragadda by an auto-rickshaw, said that if Congress suffers defeat in Jubilee Hills, “Revanth Reddy would get some sense and fulfil the promises made to auto owners and drivers”.
He said that Congress cheated auto drivers by promising `12,000 per year assistance and demanded that the government immediately pay ` 24,000 pending amount to every auto driver. Auto driver Ramesh told Harish Rao that the government launched the Mahalakshmi scheme for women but “took away our livelihood”.
