Congress imposing ‘BRU tax’ on people of Telangana: KTR

The BRS working president said under Revanth Reddy's leadership, there was a sense of entitlement among certain Cong leaders, who were treating govt positions as their personal fiefdom.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Friday said the people of Telangana were burdened with a fresh tax called BRU tax, named after Bhatti Vikramarka, Revanth Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy. All the Cabinet members including the Chief Minister were collecting separate taxes unofficially and filling the pockets of their Delhi bosses, he said.

“We have already warned that we will be cheated if Congress comes to power. But the people believed their promises. Within six months, our warnings are proving to be true. While people are deprived of basic services like water and power, they are additionally burdened with these unofficial taxes which are being collected from different sectors,” Rama Rao said while addressing the gathering at Nakrekal, Choutuppal and Devarakonda in erstwhile Nalgonda as part of the campaign for Nalgonda-Khammam-Warangal graduates constituency bypoll on Friday.

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The BRS working president said under Revanth Reddy’s leadership, there was a sense of entitlement among certain Congress leaders, who were treating government positions as their personal fiefdom. He also highlighted the rise in violence since the Congress took power, pointing to the murders of BRS leaders Mallesh Yadav in January and Sridhar Reddy recently. “Soon after the Congress came to power, faction killings started in peaceful Telangana. There was no culture of political murders like this in the past,” he said.

Rama Rao rubbished the allegations against him making derogatory remarks against students of Osmania University (OU) and Kakatiya University (KU), pointing out that the BRS gave priority to student leaders from both the universities. “They are spreading false propaganda that I said something wrongly about OU and KU students. But did the Congress give any opportunities to these students in the legislature? BRS gave opportunities to leaders like Balka Suman, Gadari Kishore, Bonthu Rammohan and Baba Fasiuddin by giving them political opportunities to grow. We have shown our sincerity by giving student leaders real opportunities,” he said, pointing out how the Congress once suppressed student protests with force, especially during the Telangana Statehood movement.

The former Minister said the previous BRS government, despite many attempts, could not cancel GO 46 before the Model Code of Conduct came into force in the State. However, the BRS was committed to ensure justice to unemployed youth and would fight the State government in the legislatures to create supernumerary posts and fill vacancies.

Rama Rao also slammed the Congress government for misleading people even after the elections and making false claims of fulfilling five of six guarantees. He pointed out that the Congress government implemented only one of the 13 promised under six guarantees, which are part of 420 electoral assurances given by the ruling party before the Assembly elections, assuring to implement them within 100 days after coming to power.

He urged voters to exercise their franchise cautiously and elect BRS candidate A Rakesh Reddy by giving their first priority vote to the third candidate on the ballot paper during polling for the Nalgonda-Khammam-Warangal graduates constituency bypoll on May 27.