KTR on a roll, tears into Congress, BJP in Telangana Assembly

HYDERABAD: Coming down heavily on opposition parties for trying to manufacture dissatisfaction, State IT, Industries and MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) said that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government under Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao achieved all-round development of Telangana in less than a decade which the Congress failed to do in over five decades.

Replying to a short discussion on Palle Pragathi, Pattana Pragathi and infrastructure development in Telangana Legislative Assembly on Saturday, the Minister took exception to Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka’s allegation that the Government was not releasing funds to village panchayats resulting in death by suicides of sarpanches.

“It is unfortunate that you (Congress) refuse to see and accept the development ushered in by KCR in ten years. For development we need growth engines like Telangana, not double-engines,” KTR said. The ruling party strongly refuted the comments of the CLP leader and said that the no sarpanch died of mental pressure exerted by the Government to complete targets.

Who built Hyderabad

He recalled a story of a leader who was in power in combined AP for some time and was boasting that he built Hyderabad, KTR said that one must realise that Rome was not built in a day. “I don’t want to take his name, but he was outsmarted by a patient in Erragadda Mental Hospital who said he was the man who brought the sea to Vizag.”

Calling for constructive criticism and statesmanship in present-day politics KTR said that recent comments of Telugu Desam Party chief Nara Chandrababu Nadu about the skyrocketing land values in Telangana compared to that of Andhra Pradesh, KTR said that he expected that the Congress and BJP parties would acknowledge the achievements of Telangana Government.

“I thank Nara Chandrababu Naidu, for recognising KCR’s free power to the agriculture sector by refusing to install meters for farm connections,” he said.

“Even Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy acknowledged the stability of the Telangana Government and the impeccable law and order situation in the State following the Disha incident. I salute KCR, he said,” KTR recalled.

Taking potshots at Bhatti Vikramarka, Manthani MLA Duddilla Sridhar Babu and Mulugu MLA Dhansari Anasuya aka Seethakka, the BRS working president said that over ten Congress leaders would be plotting against the four MLAs in the Assembly as all they wanted was power and not the development of Telangana.

Refuting the allegation of the CLP leader that he was forced to purchase water from tankers because of acute drinking water shortage in Hyderabad and its surroundings, KTR armed with data told the house the Congress leader who resided in Banjara hills never ever ordered a single water tanker. “We found that his water meter is not working and he promptly paid his water bill except to a balance of only Rs 1,153,” the MAUD Minister said.

Listing out the achievements of Telangana on various indices he asked the house as to which State was topping them. The treasury benches in unison responded saying it was Telangana.

Revanth’s lynch comments

Expressing disgust over the unmindful and irresponsible comments of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief A Revanth Reddy calling people to lynch the septuagenarian Chief Minister, KTR said that he deplored those comments and warned Revanth to be ready to face yet another defamation case.

“Already his comments on the alleged Outer Ring Road (ORR) lease scam attracted a defamation case on him by IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd,” he said. Allaying fears of huge loss to the Government exchequer by leasing out ORR, KTR said that ORR would remain the property of Telangana and the funds would be invested wisely for posterity.

However, the CLP leader objected to the comments of the TPCC chief who was not a member of the house, and urged the Speaker to strike down the words from the records.