People object to Minister Vivek’s Kaleshwaram remark

Medak: Labour Minister G Vivek Venkat Swamy had to face embarrassing moments on Saturday when people objected to his comments on the Kaleshwaram project being totally useless and that the former BRS government had spent one lakh crore rupees on a futile project. The BRS legislator V Sunitha Laxma Reddy took serious objection to his […]

Medak: Labour Minister G Vivek Venkat Swamy had to face embarrassing moments on Saturday when people objected to his comments on the Kaleshwaram project being totally useless and that the former BRS government had spent one lakh crore rupees on a futile project. The BRS legislator V Sunitha Laxma Reddy took serious objection to his comments and buttonholed the minister about the failure of the Congress government in fulfilling its electoral promises.

Pandemonium prevailed in the meeting hall where the Minister was to distribute Kalyan Laxmi scheme cheques, as supporters of both the minister and the legislator raised slogans and counter slogans. Uniformed policemen moved into the hall to control what appeared to be an explosive situation. The minister and the MLA were locked in a verbal duel on the stage over the failure of the government in implementing its electoral promises.

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As the verbal spat continued, the district collector Prathima Singh made a vain bid to placate them, even as the BRS and Congress workers began raising slogans in support of their leaders.

The meeting began on a peaceful note and chaos broke out the moment Minister Vivek Venkat Swamy referred to the BRS pushing the State into a debt trap and how it had spent one lakh crore rupees on the Kaleshwaram project. He maintained that the Congress government was taking up welfare schemes even while paying hefty interest rates on loans taken by the BRS government. At this stage, Sunitha Laxma Reddy sprang to her feet, objecting to what she termed as ‘blatant lies’ of the minister.

She went up to the podium and took a wireless microphone and began highlighting how the Congress government had failed to implement its electoral promises, including the Mahalakshmi scheme in which Rs 2500 per month were to be paid to women. Minister Vivek, who too had a microphone in his hand, made a counter argument that the erstwhile government under K Chandrasekhar Rao’s leadership pushed Telangana into a financial crisis by borrowing huge amounts of loans. Not to be cowed down, Sunitha Laxma Reddy countered his arguments and this led to another round of slogan shouting.

The arguments continued for some more time after Vivek Venkat Swamy accused the BRS of being responsible for the crisis in TGSRTC and Sunitha Laxma Reddy countered his argument. The verbal duel and slogan shouting continued for some time again, when the minister accused Sunitha Laxma Reddy of skipping the function of inauguration of Indiramma Housing Scheme.

The legislator shot back, saying she was not invited to the function and pointed out that it was a violation of laid down protocol procedures. However, the Minister raised the protocol violations during the BRS rule, further escalating the argument. The meeting ended abruptly then.