KTR tears into Congress Ministers for evading debate and arrest of BRS leaders

BRS working president KT Rama Rao accused the Congress government of avoiding a public debate by arresting BRS leaders and preventing them from participating. He demanded an Assembly session to discuss the State's finances, Gurukul tenders and the government's alleged failures.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao ridiculed the Congress government for orchestrating a political drama by challenging the opposition BRS to an open debate and then using the police to prevent BRS leaders from participating. He said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his Ministers lacked the courage to face a public debate on issues ranging from the State’s debt to alleged irregularities in Gurukul residential school tenders.

“The Congress leaders have no courage to face the BRS. If they cannot debate with us, they should abstain from throwing open challenges,” he said.

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The remarks came after former Ministers T Harish Rao, V Srinivas Goud, senior leader RS Praveen Kumar and several other BRS leaders were arrested while heading to the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park. Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who had challenged the BRS to an open debate on the State’s finances, also did not turn up at Telangana Bhavan. Rama Rao was also prevented from leaving Telangana Bhavan.

BRS leaders had assembled at Telangana Bhavan by 10 a.m., keeping a chair and ceremonial shawl ready for Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who had earlier expressed willingness to debate there. However, the Minister failed to turn up, while Harish Rao and other leaders were arrested when they attempted to proceed to Gun Park for another debate with Ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Adluri Laxman and Mohd Azharuddin.

“We waited at Telangana Bhavan, and when we tried to go to Gun Park, we were stopped by the police. The Ministers issue challenges from one place while using the police to block us elsewhere. It only shows the government’s moral bankruptcy,” Rama Rao said while speaking to the media as he waited for Minister Krishna Rao for more than three hours.

Police personnel prevented the BRS working president from leaving Telangana Bhavan to either reach Gun Park or visit the Kanchanbagh Police Station, where the arrested BRS leaders were detained. He condemned the arrests and demanded their immediate release, questioning why the government feared a public debate if it was confident of its claims.

Escalating the political challenge, Rama Rao demanded that the government convene a special session of the Assembly to discuss the Congress government’s 30 months of betrayal, deception and failures, including the State’s finances, alleged corruption in Gurukul tenders and unfulfilled election promises.

“If the government has the courage, let it allow a full discussion in the Assembly. We are ready to place every fact before the people,” he said.

The BRS leader also targeted the Congress government on a range of issues, alleging corruption, failure to deliver promised police recruitment, irregularities in welfare and infrastructure projects, and inaction on farmers’ concerns. He challenged the government to match the BRS record in housing construction, saying that the previous BRS regime had built one lakh houses in Hyderabad.

“Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy claimed that the Congress will construct over one lakh Indiramma houses in Hyderabad. We have already constructed one lakh double-bedroom houses for the poor in Hyderabad. If the Congress manages to construct at least one home more than the BRS, I will quit politics,” he declared.

Rama Rao also questioned the BJP over the status of his demand for investigations into senior Congress leaders, including the purported “RR Tax” allegations and AMRUT tender irregularities, while accusing both the Congress and BJP of shielding each other on corruption. He said the Revanth Reddy brothers accumulated crores of assets by mortgaging public properties.

The former Minister maintained that the Congress leadership had once again backed out of a debate after issuing repeated public challenges, asserting that the government lacked the confidence to defend its record before the people. He ridiculed the allegations of an Rs.8 lakh crore debt during the BRS regime, pointing out that the Centre, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had all confirmed that only Rs.2.8 lakh crore in loans was raised during the decade-long BRS rule.

“The Chief Minister and the Ministers themselves announce different debt figures as they lack coordination in peddling lies. The people of Telangana can see through these diversionary politics of the Congress. They will not entertain such theatrics, but want the ruling Congress to answer their questions and grievances,” he said.

Rama Rao asserted that the BRS would continue to expose the failures of the Congress, including the Six Guarantees, 420 election promises and 14 Declarations. He announced plans to conduct massive public meetings with farmers, students and unemployed youth across the State.

“Even though the Chief Minister and his Ministers chose to run away today, we will chase them down and hold them accountable. We will fight relentlessly on behalf of the four crore people of Telangana, and the BRS will tear away the deceptive mask of this corrupt Congress administration in the court of the public,” he declared.