KTR accuses Revanth Reddy of failing Telangana’s farmers

BRS working president KT Rama Rao accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of failing to protect farmers' interests, reneging on poll promises and misleading people on State debt. He also criticised the government's handling of Pharma City lands and called the Chief Minister "Hitler Reddy".

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday slammed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for failing to protect farmers’ interests. He charged that under the Congress government, development had disappeared and the State had been left with destruction and despair.

Addressing party workers at Maheswaram, Rama Rao said that Rythu Bandhu had vanished while “Rahul Bandhu” had taken centre stage. He claimed that instead of receiving input subsidy assistance under the Rythu Bandhu scheme, farmers were struggling to get urea. The Congress government had promised to make urea readily available, but farmers continued to face hardships, he alleged.

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Forget about the availability of urea through the app, even the names of Ranga Reddy and Malkajgiri districts were missing from the app’s list, he charged.

Rama Rao said that while in the Opposition, Revanth Reddy had questioned why Rythu Bandhu assistance was not extended for a third crop. The Congress had also promised to increase the assistance to Rs.15,000 and provide pensions to two members of a family instead of one. None of those promises had been fulfilled, he alleged.

“The slogan ‘Congress must be dethroned and KCR must return’ is reverberating across Telangana. Though Revanth Reddy is the Chief Minister, people continue to think of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao,” Rama Rao stressed.

According to him, Telangana had emerged as a top-performing State in several sectors during the BRS government. He said Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma visited the Integrated Command Control Centre built during the previous BRS regime and was impressed by the technology used there.

KTR calls Revanth Reddy ‘Hitler Reddy’

Rama Rao maintained that the hardships witnessed during the Congress rule in united Andhra Pradesh had returned under the present government to haunt the people.

Claiming that Revanth Reddy had himself admitted to admiring German dictator Adolf Hitler, he asked whether people could expect welfare and development from such a person. He referred to the Chief Minister as “Hitler Reddy”.

He also accused the Chief Minister of misleading people on the debt incurred by the previous BRS government.

Rama Rao said Telangana’s debt stood at Rs.72,000 crore when the State was formed in 2014. Over the next 10 years, the BRS government borrowed Rs.2.80 lakh crore, he claimed.

In contrast, he alleged that the Congress government had borrowed Rs.4 lakh crore in just two-and-a-half years without laying a single brick for development.

He said the BRS government had established 1,020 residential schools and spent Rs.1.20 lakh crore on providing quality education to 6.5 lakh children. It also spent nearly Rs.1 lakh crore to address six decades of power shortages. Under the Kalyana Lakshmi scheme, Rs.1 lakh was provided to each of 14 lakh young women for their weddings, he added.

The previous government had also constructed new Collectorate buildings and established a medical college and a nursing college in every district, he said. In contrast, the present government was unable to provide gunny bags to farmers at procurement centres, he alleged.

“While KCR deposited Rs.72,000 crore into farmers’ accounts, Revanth Reddy has made 72 trips to New Delhi in just 30 months,” Rama Rao remarked, alleging that all the gunny bags were being diverted to the national capital.

The BRS working president also alleged that valuable lands were being plundered by Congress leaders under the guise of the proposed Fourth City and Future City projects.

He said BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao had conceived the Pharma City project to generate employment for local youth in the Ranga Reddy region. According to him, the project was planned to meet global standards, remain pollution-free and operate with a Zero Liquid Discharge system. Farmers were persuaded to part with their land, and 14,000 acres were acquired in Maheswaram and Ibrahimpatnam, he recalled.

Rama Rao recalled that before the 2023 Assembly elections, Congress leaders had promised to scrap the Pharma City project and return the acquired land to farmers. However, after coming to power, Revanth Reddy was now saying the land would not be returned, he said.

“They are making tall claims about a Future City spread across 30,000 acres. But the law does not permit the Chief Minister to allocate Pharma City lands to his son-in-law or brother,” Rama Rao said.

He urged party workers to treat the SIR programme with utmost seriousness and ensure that the names of eligible voters were not removed from the electoral rolls.