Hyderabad: Mounting an attack on Congress during the ‘Praja Ashirvada Sabha‘ public meeting in Achampet on Thursday, Telangana chief minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao said that the grand-old party did not know how to survive.
“They don’t know the way forward, they don’t know budgeting, they don’t even know how to survive,” KCR said. “Those people (Congress) neither have any belief nor imagination.”
He highlighted the BRS party’s achievements, including of 24×7 power and water supply, comparing it with Congress’s failures. He said, “Ten years ago, transformers and electric water pumps burst like firecrackers; there was no drinking water, no power supply.”
“During the first Assembly, when I proposed 24×7 electricity supply to all Telangana households, Jana Reddy [from Congress] stood and said, if I could did it in four years, he would resign from Congress and wear a pink scarf. However, he ran away… that’s another story,” KCR said.
KCR said Congress could not even manage a 5-hour electricity supply in Karnataka, where it recently formed a government.
Asara Pension hike
Speaking about how Asara Pension scheme was different and better than Congress’ support for the elderly, CM recalled, “Before the formation of Telangana, monthly pension for elderly and disabled was just Rs 50 and 200,” he said.
“I asked them (Congress), ‘What is your intention? Are you doing it for votes? What can they even do with this amount?’ After calculating essential groceries like pulses, salt and tamarind. They said Rs 650 would be enough,” KCR said. However, I increased the pension to Rs 1,000 and currently, Rs 2,000 are being given as pension. BRS will eventually raise the amount to Rs 5,000,” he said.
KCR said that he manage the state with the devotion that one has for managing their family.
BRS started Rythu Bandhu
“Did anyone imagine Rythu Bandhu? Congress couldn’t do it in 50 years, TDP couldn’t do it either,” he said. “We started it at Rs 4,000 per acre per season. BRS kept increasing it, and now it’s Rs 10,000 per acre. If we win the 2023 polls, we will start with Rs 12,000 and take it up to Rs 16,000 in the subsequent years.”
Irrigation projects
Promising to bring irrigation to the upper floor plots of the constituency through the Uma Maheshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, KCR assured, “Under Uma Maheshwaram lift, we’re constructing three reservoirs for irrigation of upper plots under the KCR Bhagiratha scheme. I take responsibility to irrigate 1,75,000 to 2,00,000 acres of land.”
Opposition parties are delaying development and fighting over credits for these projects. They filed 125 cases against the government, KCR said.
He told people, “You’ve been observing me for over 24 years. I struggled to form Telangana. Nobody came then. Now they come and ask me, do you have [what it takes],” he said.
In a jibe at Telangana Congress chief Revath Reddy’s recent questions on KCR’s strength, he said, “One says if you have strength, come to Kodangal. Another asks me to come near the Gandhi Statue. Is this politics?”
BRS eradicated fluorosis in Munugode
Congress, KCR alleged, could not solve the problem of fluorosis during its 55-year tenure. During the year 2003-04, affected victims were taken to then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He also could not do anything.
“Only BRS solved the fluoride problem in drinking water in the Munugode constituency,” CM said while speaking in Munugode.
Speaking in Wanapathy, CM KCR said Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, who is also the minister of agriculture, co-operation and marketing, has been behind me. “He is always worried about Wanapathy people. He keeps telling me about the requirement of lift irrigation in the remote villages of Chinamandali, Pedamandali and several small thandas.”
Niranjan Reddy called me 100 times to get approval for projects. He has been behind successful irrigation of over one lakh acres of agricultural land.
