Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has likened the consoling of family members of those who sacrificed their lives for statehood to Telangana by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to “killers paying homage to martyrs”.
Congress has a history of being the cause for bloodbath in the form of killings and sacrifices in Telangana, first by merging Hyderabad State with Andhra Pradesh, and then, delaying statehood for 10 years even after including the issue in the President’s address to Parliament, TRS leaders alleged on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference, Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy, MPs M. Srinivas Reddy, B. Lingaiah Yadav, legislators B. Suman, G. Jaipal Yadav, A. Venkateshwar Reddy, V.M. Abraham, S. Vani Devi and Mahabubnagar ZP chairperson Swarna Sudhakar Reddy asked that if Congress was so farmer-friendly, why was it defeated so badly in Punjab recently. Congress was defeated in Telangana in 2018 in spite of promising ₹2 lakh farm loan waiver, they said.
Declaration only for TS?
They sought to know whether the Congress’ agriculture declaration was meant only for Telangana, indicating that it had lost hopes in other States, and why was the party not implementing Rythu Bharosa in States where it is in power now. “The party was nearly rooted out of Punjab as it had failed in keeping the promises made in 2017. A study had revealed that Congress had failed to fulfil 65% promises made in its manifesto and BJP 56% since 2004.”
Irrespective of Congress and BJP criticism, Telangana had been bagging awards one after another for implementation of various development programmes, the TRS leaders said, adding that the impact of the COVID pandemic had delayed completion of farm loan waiver of ₹1 lakh announced in 2018.
On the charges of corruption, the TRS leaders said that they were free to get any inquiry instituted in case there was any proof but said that people would not believe “such efforts to malign the TRS”. They alleged that it was the Congress that had prepared ground for the three farm laws brought and withdrawn by the BJP.
They alleged that ‘political tourists’ from the BJP and Congress were making a beeline to Telangana fearing political backlash following TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s talk of the need for an alternative political agenda in the country. They appealed to Telangana people and the society to get ready to protect the existence of Telangana on the lines of Tamil Nadu.
