All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has asked people of Telangana, particularly youth and students, to be vigilant and make an informed decision while electing a new government in the next few months, stating that the ruling party’s leadership is of the belief that the State is their jagir (property) and they are jargirdars (landlords).
The party in power had failed on all counts and the neellu, nidhulu, niyaamakaalu (water, funds and jobs/employment) for which the people fought were being garnered by ruling party leaders and their near ones, Ms. Gandhi said while addressing a public meeting organised as yuva sangharshana sabha by the Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) here on Monday.
In her maiden visit to Telangana, Ms. Gandhi said the movement for statehood was not led by any individual but the entire society and hundreds of youths including K. Srikantha Chary had sacrificed their lives for the cause. The aspirations for which the youth gave their lives were not fulfilled by the party that had come to power. “My family has made several sacrifices for the country and we understand the value of it”, she stated.
Launching a scathing attack on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the AICC leader said the ruling party had promised twice, in 2014 and 2018, to make farmers debt-free but lakhs of farmers still had the debt burden of about ₹1.5 lakh each even nine years after formation of the State. About 8,000 farmers had ended lives since 2014 at an average of three every day.
“They also promised a government job to every family, to fill all vacancies in the government departments and also ₹3,000 unemployment allowance per month in 2018. All the promises remain unkept and the unemployed youth would have got at least ₹1.5 lakh each of allowance so far. The vacancies have increased to 2.5 lakh now and the TSPSC question paper leak dashed even small hopes of the unemployed youth had”, Ms. Gandhi said.
She alleged that by reducing the allocation to education, the BRS Government had piled up ₹4,000 crore dues for fee-reimbursement scheme for 15 lakh students and even the enrolment in government schools had also come down.
Ms. Gandhi also cautioned people against the parties that would mislead them in the name of religion. “If you (people) are sincere about saying bye-bye Modi and bye-bye KCR, you need to elect a new government that is genuinely concerned about them,” she suggested as part of her 27-minute speech.
On the youth declaration announced at the meeting, she said: “We take the responsibility for fulfilling every word (promise) in the declaration and if we fail you throw us out (Congress) after five years” and said it was in the hands of people to save and safeguard their future by electing a government that would work towards realising their dreams.
