Modi lowered his image by restricting himself to criticising TRS: Harish Rao
Siddipet: The Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for merely restricting his speech to criticise the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) government. Saying that the people of Telangana had expected some new projects and sops to Telangana during his visit to Hyderabad on Thursday, Harish Rao has […]
Siddipet: The Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for merely restricting his speech to criticise the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) government. Saying that the people of Telangana had expected some new projects and sops to Telangana during his visit to Hyderabad on Thursday, Harish Rao has said that the Prime Minister has lowered his own image by restricting his speech to criticise the TRS Party.
Addressing a press conference in Siddipet Press Club on Thursday, the Minister said that the BJP and Narendra Modi had no right to speak on the hereditary politics in Telangana. Accusing the Prime Minister of encouraging hereditary politics, Rao said that union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah was the current BCCI Secretary though he never played cricket. He further said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh was a member of the current Uttar Pradesh Assembly. While Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s son was the current Lok Sabha member, he said that the union Minister Piyush Goel’s father was a key BJP functionary.
Stating that the BJP had forged an alliance with several parties that were encouraging the hereditary politics, Rao said that they have forged alliances with Apna Dal in Uttar Pradesh, and Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana and Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir. He further pointed out that BJP had also an alliance with Shivasena, DMK, and several other regional parties which were led by some families. He further said that the BJP was admitting several leaders across the nation who were hereditary politicians.
Saying that they will consider Telangana state as a family, Rao, however, said that each and every MLA and MP of TRS was democratically elected representative like all the political representatives across the nation. Stating that the BJP leadership was daydreaming about winning Assembly elections in Telangana, Rao said that the people of Telangana will never support the BJP since they were aware of injustice meted out to Telangana during the past eight years.
While Telangana was developed into a IT hub by the TRS government, the Minister has said that the union government had cancelled the ITIR (Information Technology and Investment Zone). As the Prime Minister spoke about PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rao said that the scheme was inspired by the Rythu Bandhu, the brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. While the Telangana government was giving Rythu Bandhu to every farmer without any restriction, Rao said that PM Samman Nidhi was restricted to a few farmers.
Talking about the Cheif Minister’s sacrifices, the Minister said Chandrashekar Rao launched a hunger strike for the cause of Telangana besides leading a 14- year-long second phase of the Telangana movement. Accusing the BJP of gaining politically with Hinduism, Rao said that Hinduism is part of life in Telangana. He further said that the Telangana Chief Minister had a great faith in Hinduism which was reflected in his day-to-day life.
Rao further alleged that State BJP President Bandi Sanjay and other leaders were trying to create communal violence in Telangana for winning the votes of Hindus with hate speech. Saying that they had expected some positive announcements from the Prime Minister during his visit, Rao said that the Centre had refused to give national status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) and refused to give funds to textile parks, Bayyaram Steel Plant, Railway Coach Factory, Navodaya Schools, ITIR, Medical Colleges, National Institute of Design, Turmeric Board, Pharma Corridor, and many others.
The Minister has said that the Rs 550 crore CSR fund went to Andhra Pradesh during the division of Andhra Pradesh but the centre had failed to get the fund back to Telangana. The Minister has said that the 15th Commission has recommended a Rs 6,000 sector-specific grant to Telangana, but the Centre had not given a single rupee. Stating that no centre government had kept aside the finance commission recommendations so far, Rao said that the Prime Minister Modi’s government had also kept aside the NITI Aayog’s recommendation of giving Rs 19,000 crore to Telangana for Mission Bagiratha scheme.
He further said that the Centre had kept several funds Telangana was eligible for as per the Indian Constitution pending to push Telangana into crisis. However, Rao said that the Chief Minister was leading from the front to keep Telangana on the growth path. Saying that the BJP had hailed the TRS when it supported them in Parliament to help pass some key bills, the Minister has added that the same union government was criticising TRS for demanding due share of funds, institutions and other projects. He has demanded the union government to grant all the projects mentioned in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The Minister accused the BJP government of taking all the projects to BJP ruled States. He further lashed at the Centre for delaying the division of the Krishna river water.
Also read: Modi makes vain bid to project top-performer Telangana in poor light
