CM KCR comes out all guns blazing on Congress
Right from the least desired merger of the Telangana region with Andhra State to the worst ever phase of starvation, suicides and migration and dwindling fortunes, the Congress was instrumental and the people would never be able to forgive the party for that.
Hyderabad: Attacking the Congress with renewed vigour holding it responsible for the state of shambles the Telangana region was in, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said on Sunday that a new Telangana was unveiled by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi on the ruins left behind by Congress rulers of the undivided State.
Replying to a short discussion on ‘Telangana State formation – Progress achieved in the own State’ in the State Legislative Assembly, he held the Congress squarely responsible for the shambolic conditions in Telangana that sparked the fight for Statehood. He said the injustice meted out its people was still in the process of being undone.
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Right from the least desired merger of the Telangana region with Andhra State to the worst ever phase of starvation, suicides and migration and dwindling fortunes, the Congress was instrumental and the people would never be able to forgive the party for that.
Though the BRS could rebuild a modern welfare State with robust economic growth in a short span of nine years, physical evidences of the devastation caused by the Congress regime were standing out as grim reminders, he said.
Stating that people across the State, who have just started tasting results of the policies and programmes being implemented by the BRS government with vision and generosity, he said larger benefits were in store for them to enjoy. Though the State was way ahead on multiple growth indicators, the results would have been much better today but for the impact of factors such as demonetization and the pandemic that left the economy in disarray and took many years to recover.
Telangana would have reached by now its ultimate phase of prosperity, but for its merger with Andhra State thrust upon it by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by undermining its resistance, he said, adding that Statehood was attained as the culmination of a fight that lasted for decades.
The demand for separate Telangana was dealt by the Congress rulers with disdain. As people joined the movement in large number in 1969, the Congress government of the day sought to suppress it by turning colleges and hostels into jails.
The killings of the City College firing and subsequent events could be credited only to the Congress Party and its contempt for the very name of Telangana. Ministers of the day such as Pranay Bhaskar did not even allow the word Telangana to be mentioned in the Assembly.
The last Congress Chief Minister of the undivided State, Kiran Kumar Reddy, had demonstrated all his hatred and utter scorn for Telangana and its people. He had predicted doom for Telangana in the event of granting Statehood, while the then union minister Renuka Chowdhury had gone to the extent of questioning whether Statehood was a cup of coffee to be delivered instantly. The Congress Party advocated a second SRC to decide on the demand for Statehood while K Rosaiah too did his bit for stalling a separate Telangana State, he said.
The Congress leadership had conceded the demand for Telangana not out of love for people of the region. It was forced to do so because of the bleak prospects it was facing in the country in those days, Chandrashekhar Rao said, adding that Congress leaders like Bhatti Vikramarka, who were now targeting the BRS rule, would not be able to wipe out the worst experiences of the past from the minds of the people.
The development of Telangana region received a setback during the Congress rule. Major irrigation projects like the Sriram Sagar and Nizam Sagar taken up in the post-independence era were neglected for long.
Even after attaining Statehood, the Congress sought to play the same disruptive role in Telangana. Its leaders had filed as many as 467 court cases as part of their bid to stall the implementation of the Kaleshwaram Project that was now the lifeline of the State.
The Singareni Collieries Company Limited would have been a fully State owned undertaking today but for the ill-advised moves of Congress rulers in the undivided State. Failing to manage the company affairs in a professional manner, they borrowed hugely from the Centre and being unable to repay it, they had surrendered 49 per cent of stake to the Centre, he said.
He also expressed deep anguish over recent derogatory remarks made by Congress leaders, to offer ‘Pindam’ (a Hindu ritual of offering food to the departed soul) to him. He said the people would soon decide the fate of those who made such statements.
“We are open to constructive and even political criticism. But what should one make out of such derogatory remarks? But such statements have hurt me deeply,” he said, asking if the Congress leaders lacked basic humanity and respect for the Chief Minister of the State.
Taking a jibe at TPCC president A Revanth Reddy and BJP State president G Kishan Reddy, Chandrashekhar Rao recalled their actions during the Telangana movement. He said the TPCC president had brandished a rifle in Karimnagar against Telangana agitators, while Kishan Reddy had fled to the US when Telangana MLAs from all political parties resigned from their posts.
