Warangal: Launching a fierce attack on the Congress leadership for its false narratives on the welfare of backward class communities in the State, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Sunday asserted that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy owed an apology to the BCs in the State for failing to implement the promises made in the BC Declaration of the party more than a year ago.
The BRS would hold a week-long event from November 29 to highlight such failures of the Congress government over the last one year, he said.
Addressing a media conference after addressing party workers and functionaries at Hanamkonda, he said the Congress had promised the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule BC sub-plan with statutory status apart from spending Rs.1 lakh crore in five years for BC welfare and creating a Most Backward Classes (MBC) Welfare department, including corporations for all BC castes for their overall development as part of its BC declaration issued at Kamareddy the same day last year.
But the Congress government, despite its lavish promises, proved to be low on delivery, he said, also accusing Revanth Reddy of spreading lies and wasting public money on full-page ads.
Demanding immediate implementation of the promises made in the Kamareddy BC Declaration, he said the declaration had promised to increase BC reservations in local bodies to 42 percent But none of the Congress promises could be translated into reality so far.
Accusing the Congress leadership of betraying the BCs, he demanded an apology from Revanth Reddy as no progress was seen on this count.
He urged the public to question government officials visiting their homes as part of the caste census exercise on the unfulfilled promises and emphasized that the people have the right to question government policies.
He criticized the Congress for its 60-year history of neglecting the BCs and failing to establish a BC Ministry at the central level. Recalling that in 2004, under the leadership of K Chandrashekhar Rao, BC associations had demanded the establishment of a BC Welfare Department from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he highlighted the previous BRS government’s achievements, including the introduction of BC Bandhu after Dalit Bandhu, and criticized the Congress for halting these schemes.
Rama Rao also demanded that the Congress government implement the caste census and 42% reservations for BCs in local body elections. The local body elections should only be conducted after providing 42% reservations to the BCs, he said.
He also criticized the Congress for failing to provide financial support to BCs, establish BC welfare departments, and fulfill promises such as fee reimbursement, gurukuls, and interest-free loans.
He pointed out that the Congress government had not only failed to implement the promises made in the BC Declaration, but had even scrapped existing schemes that benefited the backward classes.