BRS working president KT Rama Rao along with party leaders during a road show at Chevella on Friday.
Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao came down heavily on the Congress for its empty promises and the unfulfilled guarantees made during the elections in Telangana. He targeted Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi, blaming them for misleading Telangana’s people with electoral promises and now, not ensuring their implementation.
“The Congress makes grand promises but abandons the people post-elections. Revanth Reddy is a known cheater and liar, but the Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who campaigned during the elections and pledged to implement all promises, also have turned blind eye,” he charged.
In an informal interaction with mediapersons at Chevella on Friday, Rama Rao lambasted Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for operating a “criminal gang” with his close associates in the Congress including his brothers Tirupati Reddy and Kondal Reddy to threaten business establishments and investors to extort money and land grabbing across the State. He said they were creating chaos in the State, while Congress diverts attention with fabricated issues.
He rubbished the Chief Minister’s allegations that BRS was following RSS ideology, stating that BRS transcends across all sections of society. He pointing out the irony of Revanth Reddy’s past association with the RSS and ABVP. “Not BRS, but Revanth Reddy has ties with RSS. Once AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi stated that Revanth Reddy wears a khaki knicker under his sherwani,” he remarked.
The former Minister slammed the Congress for abandoning tenant farmers and failing to deliver on assurances. He declared that the BRS will not rest, until the Congress government delivers its promises to people of Telangana. Starting with a dharna in Nalgonda on January 21, he said the BRS will hold district-wise protests across the State to fight on farmers’ issues and ensure them justice.
Rama Rao once again challenged the Chief Minister to undergo a live lie detector test to substantiate his claims on Formula-E race case, rather than wasting public funds, amounting to Rs 10 crore on politically motivated cases. He stated that both the Congress and the BJP were working in tandem through agencies like ACB and ED respectively, to target the BRS.
He questioned the BJP’s silence over numerous scams including AMRUT tenders and ration rice stocks in the Congress government, while targeting the BRS on ACB cases. “Jail, government threats, and harassment are not new to us. We have faced them during Telangana statehood agitation, and we will face them again for the people of Telangana especially farmers,” he declared.
However, the BRS working president reiterated that as a law-abiding citizen, he would use all legal provisions to defend himself in the Formula-E case. He reminded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too had withdrawn his petitions in the Supreme Court in the cases pertaining to National Herald and derogatory remarks against RSS earlier.
On the Chief Minister’s visit to Davos, he pointed out that despite promises of Rs 40,000 crore in investments last year, none had materialised under Revanth Reddy’s leadership.
Rama Rao said by-elections were anticipated in at least 10 Assembly constituencies where the BRS MLAs defected to the Congress. He expressed confidence in the BRS’s readiness to contest. “Our party cadre are energised, and we are prepared for any challenge,” he declared.
However, he warned the Congress government against holding elections to local bodies without ensuring 42 per cent reservations for BCs. He vowed to fight for the rights of farmers, workers and marginalised communities in the State. He also criticised the Congress leadership for failing to protect its own leaders and indulging in infighting, undermining its credibility.