HYDERABAD: Reiterating that the Congress would remain in power in Telangana until 2034, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday asserted that he would not allow the BRS to return to power in the state, saying he would not let “ganja grow in a tulasi garden.”
The chief minister made the remarks after laying the foundation stone for the Ande Sri Memorial Park at Ghatkesar on the occasion of the poet’s birth anniversary.
Addressing the gathering, Revanth described Ande Sri, balladeer Gaddar and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi as the inspirations for the Congress government. He also took a swipe at former chief minister and BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, asking, “Who were your inspirations — the Nizam, Qasim Razvi or Idi Amin?”
Praising Ande Sri’s contribution to the Telangana movement, Revanth said, “His songs became bullets and cannons that demolished the gadis. Whenever the previous rulers created trouble for me, I would listen to Ande Sri’s songs to draw courage. His songs inspired not only me but also lakhs of people during the Telangana statehood movement. I came to regard him as my elder brother.”
He alleged that the previous BRS government had refused to adopt Ande Sri’s ‘Jaya Jaya he Telangana...’ as the official state song because of its arrogance. He claimed that Ande Sri, out of self-respect, never met the then rulers and even declined to write songs praising them as they had “confined people to gadis and suppressed their voices”. Revanth also recalled that Gaddar was allegedly insulted by being made to sit under the sun outside Pragathi Bhavan.
Revanth also rejected BRS working president KT Rama Rao’s allegation that the Congress government was merely filling posts for recruitment notifications issued during the previous BRS regime.
Describing KTR as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the chief minister said KCR had given an MLC post to his daughter after she lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election, while providing positions to family members instead of creating employment opportunities for Telangana youth.
“Did KCR recruit teachers, doctors, nurses or engineers? Did your government conduct Group I, II, III and IV examinations and provide jobs? Instead, your regime witnessed the leakage of competitive examination question papers and the looting of hundreds of crores. Did you ever treat unemployed youth with dignity?” Revanth asked.
Claiming that the Congress government had provided 67,674 government jobs within its first year in office, Revanth said his administration had fulfilled its commitment to unemployed youth.
In a sharp attack on KCR, Revanth said the former chief minister would be buried in Gajwel. “The people of Telangana gave everything to the KCR family. What did they give back?” he asked. He also alleged that the people had made “a passport broker” the chief minister of Telangana and a bathroom cleaner in the US the state’s IT and industries minister, questioning whether that was not a sacrifice made by the people of Telangana.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Adluri Laxman Kumar and Ponnam Prabhakar, among others, attended the programme.
