Congress damaging brand image of Telangana, only BRS can make Parliament hear its voice, says KTR

HYDERABAD: Calling upon the people of Telangana to elect Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) candidates in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, party working president and former Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) said that only BRS could make the Parliament hear the voice of Telangana.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, he said that the Congress Government in the State was hell-bent on tarnishing the brand image of Telangana so painstakingly built by the BRS, just to put the promises it made on the back burner.

“Electricity, Kaleshwaram, and Land Cruisers all are diversion tactics played by the Revanth Reddy’s Government. Because the farmers are restless as the Rytu Bandhu and Rs 500 bonus were kept in abeyance by the Congress Government,” KTR pointed out. “What is wrong the vehicles purchased for the Government were sent to Vijayawada for bulletproofing,” he pointed out.

He said that the BRS released a booklet on the 420 promises made by the Congress during the elections and would distribute the booklet to all the party leaders attending the Parliament Constituency preparatory meetings being held at the party headquarters. “On the first day of the Parliament Constituency meeting in which 500 representatives from Adilabad took part, the common complaint was that we failed to effectively counter the propaganda unleashed by the Congress. So we will not let it happen anymore,” the BRS working president said.

He said that only BRS effectively fought for the rights of Telangana in the Parliament. “Have you ever heard Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi talk about Telangana in the Parliament? If elected the Congress MPs would sit silently behind Rahul Gandhi,” KTR said adding that the BRS was the sole representative of Telangana in Delhi.

Reflecting on the dismay of many people on why the BRS and K Chandrashekar Rao were defeated in the recent elections, KTR said that no matter what KCR would be the synonym for Telangana. “You will remember Mamata when we talk about West Bengal, Stalin for Tamil Nadu, Sharad Pawar for Maharashtra, Jagan and Chandrababu Naidu for Andhra Pradesh, and similarly KCR for Telangana,” he said.

Recalling the fight for Telangana during which KCR garnered the support of 32 parties, KTR said that Telangana would need the BRS in the Parliament to fight the BJP which merged seven mandals in AP, refused to give separate High Court for Telangana, denied rightful share in Krishna waters, declined to set up steel factory in Bayyaram. He said that the BRS effectively fought the privatisation of the Singareni collieries by the BJP-led Government at the Centre.

“The BJP or the Congress Congress never carried Telangana agenda in past 10 years. In the absence of BRS MPs, there will be no Telangana,” KTR said. He also cautioned the party cadre about a possible truck between the Congress and BJP to defeat BRS in the Lok Sabha election. He assured that the BRS leadership would go deep into the lacunae that led to the defeat in the recent elections.

KTR said that the people already started realising that the Congress Government would slowly withdraw all the promises it made by releasing white papers and slapping judicial inquiries. “If there was a problem with the Kaleshwaram how come there was a 3.5 crore tonne paddy production in the State, and how come KCR deposited Rs 7,000 crore in the accounts of the farmers under Rytu Bandhu 12 times? People are laughing, KTR said.

Stating that the countdown for the Congress had begun as the first 30 days of the Government passed without fulfilling all major promises. On countering the BJP, KTR pointed out that only BRS could stop the spread of BJP in the State. “BRS and BJP fought well against each other in the elections. In many places particularly in the Adilabad district, the fight was very close. They defeated our leaders and vice versa. So the argument that BRS was BJP’s B team was proved false,” he said adding that it was KCR who opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

He said that BRS president KCR would start attending the party headquarters after four more weeks. He said that the report of the 17 Lok Sabha Constituency meetings to be held at the party headquarters would be submitted to the party president for further guidance. “From Adilabad alone, there were more than 200 suggestions in written for. We will also hold Assembly segment meetings after this exercise,” he said.

Expressing confidence that the BRS would perform well in the panchayat and local body elections he assured that the candidates would be selected as per the wishes and suggestions of the party cadre. “There will be no unilateral decisions in this regard,” he observed.

Reflecting on the defeat in the Assembly elections, KTR said that several party workers and well-wishers were talking more freely now and were coming out with suggestions to change certain aspects of the welfare schemes implemented by the BRS Government. “We will have to concentrate more on the construction of the party at the ground level. Few talked about the inability of the party to express the works it has done for the people,” he said.

“We were unable to counter negative propaganda. We never said that we give a job to every household. But we also failed to tell people that Telangana gave the highest number of Government jobs and paid the highest salaries to Government employees,” KTR added. He said that fake propaganda unleashed by the Congress worked against the BRS in the Assembly elections.