Rahul Gandhi contradicts Karnataka leaders on power supply

Rahul Gandhi’s claims just proved how deep the internal dissonance was, even while uttering lies. 

Hyderabad: It is known that the Indian National Congress is synonymous with internal discord, but Rahul Gandhi’s claims on Tuesday just proved how deep the internal dissonance was, even while uttering lies.

Gandhi, while addressing a public meeting at Kollapur, claimed that the Congress was known for keeping its promises, and that his party’s government in Karnataka had kept all its promises right in the first cabinet meeting. However, what he forgot to mention was the promise of adequate power supply to farmers in the Congress manifesto.

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Apart from several farmers from Karnataka who have been going around in Telangana warning farmers here that the Congress had betrayed them by not ensuring even two hours of quality power supply, Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah and his Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar too had openly said that their government was supplying only five hours of power to farmers in Karnataka.

How the Congress MP contradicted the statements of his own partymen has baffled people here, who also asked why farmers were protesting across Karnataka if the Congress government had indeed kept its promises to all sections of the people. Apart from a severe shortage of power, which Karnataka Ministers themselves have admitted, farmers were also facing an acute shortage of water for irrigation, a fact that Gandhi chose to keep quiet about.

The issue of power supply to farmers, in fact, is turning out to be a major embarrassment to the Congress, with its TPCC president A Revanth Reddy’s statement that three hours of power was more than enough for farmers in Telangana. The statements of other Congress leaders including N Uttam Kumar Reddy calling the Rythu Bandhu financial assistance a ‘waste expenditure’ too is being called out by many, pointing out the anti-farmer stance of the Congress.

Gandhi’s use of the words ‘dorala Telangana’ too backfired, with many citing TPCC president A Revanth Reddy’s language, comparing Telangana’s farmers to beggars who were being given ‘alms’ of Rs.10,000 as Rythu Bandhu assistance. It was in fact Revanth who was speaking the language of feudal lords, many pointed out.

Interestingly, despite all fingers pointing at the Congress in connection with Monday’s attack on BRS MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Rahul Gandhi chose to skirt the issue and keep mum on the entire incident, which in fact has become a major turning point in the campaign narrative in Telangana, putting his party on the defensive.