“Congress pitted ‘cash for vote’ case accused Revant Reddy against me in Kamareddy,” says KCR

KAMAREDDY: A man who was caught red-handed trying to bribe a TRS MLA with Rs 50 lakh in cash, is contesting against me in Kamareddy, said Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Chief and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) addressing ‘Praja Ashirvada Sabha’ in Kamareddy on Thursday.

Earlier, he filed nominations for the Kamareddy Assembly constituency at the RDO office. TPCC president A Revanth Reddy is also contesting for the constituency.

Taking a dig at Revanth Reddy, KCR wanted the people to know the person and the party that he represented before casting their votes. “Society needs to mature. Elections will come and go, but the character of the person whom you are willing to vote for must be thoroughly discussed. Because five years is a long time and your lives depend on the decision you make on November 30,” KCR said, cautioning the voters. The irony is that the same man who tried to purchase the BRS MLAs will be entering the fray from Kamareddy, he observed.

He said that the same Congress had merged the Telangana region with the Andhra, marking the beginning of the destruction of the region. For 58 years Telangana suffered, KCR said, adding that the region had scanty power supply, and no water, resulting in an exodus to other regions. “If the first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru thought of a scheme like Dalit Bandhu immediately after independence the Dalits would have developed like all of us,” KCR noted.

Thanking Gampa Govardhan, the sitting MLA of Kamareddy for inviting him to contest from this constituency, he said that when KCR would come to Kamareddy lot many things would come along with him.

“By God’s grace, I filed my nominations today. I promise you that I will take care of the political career of your MLA. KCR won't come alone, there will be a lot of things accompanying me. We will irrigate every single acre in Kamareddy and Yella Reddy with water drawn from the Kaleshwaram lift, IT and other industries will set shop here and the entire urban and rural landscape of Kamareddy will transform” KCR said.

Declaring that the Rs 5,000 pension would be extended to beedi workers who joined the workforce and enroled after 2014, he said that Telangana is the only State in the Country that implemented a pension for beedi workers amongst the 16 states that have similar small-scale industries. He said that over one lakh beedi workers in Telangana would benefit from the extension of the scheme.

Coming heavily on the Congress for calling Rytu Bandhu a waste of taxpayers' money, KCR said that the money given under Rytu Bandhu and the revenue earned from selling paddy through 75,000 paddy purchasing points form the investment for the farmer for the next crop.

“Revanth Reddy says that three hours of power is enough for agriculture. Rahul Gandhi calls for dumping Dharani into the Bay of Bengal, do they know anything about agriculture,” KCR wanted to know. Even the Prime Minister’s native State Gujarat could not give 24-hour power, the PM wanted me to fix meters to agricultural connections and fined Telangana to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore,” he said, adding that KCR would not budge and proved to be a tough nut to crack.

Turning heat on the BJP, KCR wondered how the BJP could ask for votes when it refused to give at least one Navodaya school to Telangana, and one medical college out of the 157 it gave to other states, KCR observed.

Enlisting a plethora of welfare schemes launched by the BRS Government, KCR said that Telangana farmers need not pay a single rupee for the irrigation water as the water cess had been scrapped. “The agriculture and allied fields have developed in the past nine years. Today Telangana sells 33,000 crore worth of fish and fish products,” he said.

Childhood memories

Recalling his childhood memories linked with Kamareddy, KCR said his mother belonged to Konapur village which was also called Posanipalli. “I used to visit that village along with my mother and grandmother. My grandparents used to stay at the residence of Badal Singh Marwari a nobleman. Then they moved to a home near Timber Depot,” KCR said.

Remembering his initial days of the separate Telangana movement, he said that he was a mandal brigadier for the 40-day-long ‘Jala Sadhana’ agitation.

“I worked as a beedi coolie at Desai beedi factory to earn money as that was one of the conditions to join the agitation,” KCR said. He said that his brother-in-law played an important role in the Kamareddy Bar Association passing a resolution in favour of Telangana.