Hyderabad: Attacking the Central government, Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao on Monday said that Union home minister Amit Shah spoke like a ”broken gramophone” at the recently concluded national executive meeting of the BJP, that was held in the city on July 2 and 3.
Harish Rao stated that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) here expected the Prime Minister to talk about something substantial.
”But we were met with disappointment. Amit Shah spoke about ‘neellu, nidhulu, niyamakaalu’ (water, funds, jobs) like a broken gramophone,” he said, while mocking the Union home minister.
“We hoped that something new would be announced during the two-day conference. They spoke about nothing except getting into power and took KCR’s name multiple times. Nothing else except this was heard,” he said.
When asked about BJP’s claim that they will change Hyderabad’s name to Bhagyanagar, Rao said, “To make changes like that, they have to first come to power, which they will not. Those who participated in the BJP’s meet did not speak on ‘vishayam’ (subject), and instead spread ‘visham’ (poison),” asserted Harish Rao.
Hyderabad witnessed heavy political activity last weekend on July 2 and 3, as the BJP held its national executive meeting in the city. The saffron party’s entire top leadership was in town, including Shah, Modi and chief ministers of BJP-run states. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ajay Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath also came, and went to the Bhagya Laxmi temple at Charminar in Hyderabad’s old city.
“It was disappointing that they didn’t talk about any new welfare development, or how they would help the state going forward. None of the chief ministers spoke about development that is better than Telangana’s,” added Harish Rao.
Questioning the criticism BJP launched at TRS supremo and Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), Harish Rao, while addressing a press conference, said, ’”How can they claim that there is no water in Telangana? The uninterrupted supply of water to the Telangana farmers is the result of Kaleshwaram, Polavaram, and the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP), Mission Kakatiya, check dams, Godavari, Krishna rivers development.”
He added that KCR transformed Karimnagar with reverse pumping through SRSP. “Go to any district and ask the farmers. We will come with you,” said Harish Rao, while challenging the BJP leadership in the state
The state finance minister also said that the crop yield in Telangana is proof of water supply. “Yesterday, Modi himself said that the central government bought crops worth Rs 100 crores from Telangana. Where did all that crop come from if there was no water?” he asked.
Rao quoted Niti Aayog’s data, saying that Telangana produces the most crop in the country after Punjab. Niti Aayog said that Telangana is a 10% growth rate in agriculture in the last 8 years on avg. In 2021, Telangana’s growth rate was 21% while the country’s was 3%, he added.
“Telangana is top 3 in individual income average. Our Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) grew from 5.5 crores to 13 crores in the last 8 years. In UP, where there is the famed ‘double engine’, the individual income is 71K. Telangana’s income is thrice more. Telangana contributed 4.9% to the country’s GDP. It was 4% in 2014,” he stated.
Harish Rao also demanded that the central government release a white paper about the funding they are allocating towards various welfare schemes.
Harish Rao also questioned the BJP’s promises made by to Telangana by the Centre. “The coach factory that was promised to Warangal went to Gujarat. There were 157 medical colleges approved in country, but none in Telangana. You did not talk about the Bayyaram steel factory either,” he added.
Further, he also lashed out against the BJP for claiming that its leaders fought for the separate statehood of Telangana. “During State formation, we all resigned without hesitation. The two MLAs you had- Lakshminarayana resigned and Kishan reddy did not. We were the ones who sacrificed and fought. Where were you? What was your part? How can you say that you were part of the struggle?” he questioned.
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