Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that if anybody is unable to see any change in Telangana since the formation of the State, they were either blind or acting blind as the State has made enviable progress in all spheres of life, and improvement of its performance on several indices is an indication.
Replying to the debate on short discussion – Telangana State formation, progress achieved in the own State – in the Legislative Assembly on Sunday, he said it was the Congress that was responsible for the merger of Telangana with Andhra Pradesh as also for all kinds of discrimination that followed for 47 years of rule by it and another 17-year rule by TDP and violated all agreements and assurances including Gentlemen’s Agreement.
“As a result, even farmers with landholding of 20 to 30 acres from areas such as Mahabubnagar, Narayankhed, and others had migrated to Hyderabad and plied auto-ickshaws and engaged in other petty works for livelihood,” he explained.
Referring indirectly to a call given by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A. Revanth Reddy “to do pinda pradanam to KCR” (‘KCR ku pindam pedtham’), the Chief Minister sought to know whether it was for taking the new-born State onto the path of enviable progress and remarked that people would now decide to whom they would do ‘pinda pradanam’.
“Not that we can’t act against such persons but we believe in being liberal and democratic. Otherwise, it won’t take much to act against such useless outbursts,” Mr. Rao said and mentioned the issue involving Rahul Gandhi for making some comments on those with Modi as surname.
Citing statistics released by the Centre recently, he said Telangana was one of the States with the lowest borrowings/debt in the country (23rd position). He sought to know whether the Congress party had ever thought of a scheme like Dalit Bandhu for uplifting Dalit communities. Had they thought of such schemes, the lives of Dalits would have been very well-placed, he added.
Mr.Rao also recollected how former Chief Ministers of combined Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and N. Kiran Kumar Reddy had insulted the people of Telangana time and again during their stewardship. He mentioned how late Rajasekhara Reddy had spoken about Hyderabad/Telangana after the phase of polling this side in 2009 that the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema would need passport to go to Hyderabad in case Telangana was formed.
Similarly, he recollected how Mr.Kiran Kumar Reddy had refused in the Assembly to sanction even a paisa for Telangana, when members from the region sought funds for drinking water after he announced that ₹8,000 crore would be spent for a drinking water project in his native Chittoor district.
In 2014, the Congress was facing headwinds across the country and to secure at least a few seats in Telangana they had announced statehood and not out of any love for the region’s people. Had Telangana continued as a separate State since 1948, it would have made more wonders than what the BRS government had achieved so far, he stated.
