The Opposition leaders Revanth Reddy and Bandi Sanjay are insignificant people who have no moral right to criticise Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The 70-year-old Mr Rao completed 23 years of public life and struggled for 14 years for Telangana statehood, said BRS working president and IT minister KT Rama Rao. In an extensive interview with a vernacular television channel, he said it is not proper to heckle a leader like KCR and instead love Telangana to show their commitment as Mr KCR did. “KCR’s love for Telangana and its people is unflinching,” he said adding that the Opposition leaders should inculcate some culture and decency.
Ruling out any political alliance with any party, the BRS leader said they would go alone in the ensuing Assembly elections. There is no need to ally with BJP that lost deposits. “We are not here to toe the line of any party. We are clean and will not fear for ED, IT or CBI,” he said. The only agenda of BRS is the development and welfare of people. If the party has any alliance, it will be with the people and not with any other party. The facts and figures amply prove the rapid strides made by the state in various sectors – be it Information Technology (IT) or Agriculture.
The BJP and Modi promised many things but failed to deliver a single promise. Instead, they scrapped the ITIR project and denied enough funds for development. The Modi government only put hurdles hampering the progress of Telangana state. Now he talks about family rule and corruption. “If you want Adani to prosper much more, you should vote for the BJP,” this is what Modi intends to say, Mr Rama Rao said giving a tit-for-tat to Modi’s remarks on dynasty rule in states. The accusations of dynasty rule by Congress and BJP are awful. “The BJP does not have any existence here in Telangana. Last time they lost deposit in 108 seats and this will repeat again. No party is nearer to BRS,” he said.
The Congress has turned into a Scamgress and its rule was ridden with scandals day in and day out. The less we speak about it, the better. Mr Rama Rao asserted that he maintained good wavelength with both masses and corporate executives. He said he proved his mettle with his performance and did not harp on his father’s legacy. Having been in public life for the last 16 years, he gained public patronage. In the first election, he said he got just 171 votes majority and the last time he secured 90,000 votes majority. “If I am inefficient and getting away with my father’s image, the people of Sircilla would have rejected me long ago,” he said.
Referring to Dharani portal and allegations of Opposition parties, the IT minister said it was a foolproof method of digitisation of land records. None could tamper them and the rights of poor and marginal farmers over their land holdings are kept safe. Except for the farmers who desire to sell or mutate their land with their thumb impression, the record cannot be changed. On scrapping GO 111, Mr Rama Rao said even the Congress and BJP promised in their election manifestos. Many leaders – Revanth Reddy, DK Aruna, K Rajagopal Reddy, Vivek Venkataswamy and others have plots there. The Dharani portal has all the other details. They cannot just bluff anymore.
Mr Rama Rao said his appeal to people of Telangana is that do they want to lose the government that bettered their lives by getting distracted by the false promises being spelled out by BJP and Congress. If people strengthened the hands of BRS and CM KCR, the state will prosper more. More schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Beema, Shaadi Mubarak, Kalyana Laxmi that immensely benefitted the poor and marginal sections will be launched.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao