Ridiculing the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party in Telangana, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi mounted an all-out attack on the state government accusing it of being the ‘B team’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party and called it ‘BJP Rishtedaar Samithi’.
Gandhi was in Khammam district on Sunday evening to address a huge gathering at the ‘Telangana Jana Garjana’ meet.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is carrying the remote control of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao,” Gandhi alleged.
“The upcoming elections in Telangana would be a fight between the Congress and the BRS,” Gandhi said while comparing the Telangana BJP’s current state to a car with four punctured tires.
Welcoming former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy into the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi said he accepted the ideology of the party. Srinivasa Reddy was recently suspended from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for anti-party activities.
The Congress leader noted that Khammam is a stronghold of the Congress party. He told people that they always supported Congress and the ideology of the Congress party is in their heart and blood.
Rahul Gandhi also declared that the doors of the Congress party are open for all those who quit Congress party in the past. “For all those who agree with our ideology, our doors are open. We have nothing to do with those who support the ideology of BJP and BRS,” he said.
‘KCR thinks he is king of Telangana’
“KCR thinks he is the king of Telangana,” Gandhi told a crowd jostling for space.
The Congress leader claimed that the chief minister had pocketed Rs 1 lakh crore from the Kaleswaram project.
“During the last nine years, the state has witnessed rampant corruption. KCR also supported the BJP when Congress and other opposition parties protested against the farmers’ bill in the Parliament,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi remarked that BRS was encroaching upon the land once provided by the late prime minister Indira Gandhi’s Congress party to the Dalits, Adivasis, farmers, and the backward community of Telangana.
“The Congress will give back this land to you, it is your right,” Gandhi promised to rousing cheers.
Pension scheme for senior citizens, widows: Rahul
Gandhi promised to provide Rs 4000 as a pension to elderly citizens and widows. “If the Congress party comes to power, we will make sure senior citizens and widows get a monthly pension of Rs 4000,” he said.
The BRS government currently provides Rs.2,016 per month as the pension for senior citizens and widows under Aasara Pension Scheme.
He also proclaimed that Podu land in the state will be given to the Adivasis community.
According to Gandhi, Congress fought the election in Karnataka against “a corrupt and anti-poor government and we defeated them with the support of the poor, OBCs, minorities and oppressed in the state”.
Gandhi predicted a repeat of Karnataka in Telangana in the upcoming assembly elections.
“On one side there would be the rich and the powerful of the state and on the other side, the poor, tribals, minorities, farmers and small shopkeepers with us. What has happened in Karnataka, will be repeated in Telangana,” he concluded.
