Hyderabad: In a scathing attack on Congress leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi, Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Sunday said the Congress was looting the country for decades and had earned the reputation of “Scamgress” party due to corruption. People were vexed with the party and had rejected it, relegating it to the Opposition.
Reacting to allegations made by Rahul Gandhi at Khammam on Sunday, Harish Rao said the Bharat Rashtra Samithi was not anyone’s B-team, but the A-team dedicated for the welfare of the poor in the country. The Congress was losing its ground and only the BRS had the ability to stand up against the BJP, he said.
In a tweet, the Finance Minister ridiculed Gandhi’s promises to distribute podu lands and questioned the Congress leader’s awareness, pointing out that he was blind to the efforts of the State government, which had already launched podu land distribution. He dismissed Gandhi as an outdated politician who lacked knowledge of current affairs in the State.
In response to allegations of corruption in the Kaleshwaram project, Harish Rao laughed off the claim of a Rs 1 lakh crore-scam, pointing out that the total project cost itself was Rs 80,321.57 crore.
He reminded that the Centre had not contributed any funds and the project was taken up entirely by the State government, as stated in response to Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy in the Parliament.
He mocked the Congress party’s accusations of scams in government schemes, terming the accusations as baseless and hypocritical.
He also brought up the Mudigonda firing incident, accusing the Congress party of suppressing dissent and failing to deliver on promises made to the people of Telangana.
Dismissing Rahul Gandhi’s speech as a rehearsed skit lacking substance, Harish Rao said the Khammam meeting was, in a nutshell, filled with frivolous accusations and scripted speeches.