Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has sought to target the youth and asked the people of Telangana to dream big in making ‘Brand Hyderabad’ and ‘Brand Telangana’ world famous.
The Congress leader’s speech at a well-attended public meeting here at the Lal Bahadur Stadium was short on political bashing of his rivals and more on promises to develop Telangana and Hyderabad. He said these days the watches, T-shirts and shoes worn by youth were ‘Made in China’. The money spent on a watch goes to China, while generating jobs to youth in that country.
Pointing out that Hyderabad was known to be software centre, he said “we want Telangana and Hyderabad to become hardware centres too”. Showing his arm, he said that he was not wearing a wrist watch but would like to wear a ‘Made in Telangana’ one amidst lusty cheers from the crowd. He said “we want to see Hyderabad to be the number one IT city’ and promised that two-lakh jobs in the private sector and one-lakh in the government would be created in the next five years.
Referring to dedicated manufacturing corridors created between Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Chennai, he said a 4,000 MW power plant would be set up in Telangana and announced that a 10-year tax holiday would be given for the backward areas in the region. He also listed out the projects launched by the Government, including metro rail project, upgrading of Hyderabad airport, NIMS and Gandhi Medical College.
Mr. Gandhi charged TRS leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao with pursuing a politics of hatred in Hyderabad and said the city was built by people who came from far and wide. “This city belongs to all” and was known for its people were known for their love and brotherhood. It would remain like that in future too. Congress would protect the safety of those living in Hyderabad.
Taking a dig at TRS, he said that party was not capable of fulfilling the dreams of people. It would make promises but not implement them. The Congress, on the other hand, fulfilled whatever it had promised. Different parties tried to stop the Telangana Bill in Parliament and TDP and BJP spoke against it. Before TRS was launched in 2001, as many as 40 Congress legislators petitioned for separate Telangana.
While declaring that farmers loans up to Rs two lakh would be waived, he said the Congress if elected to power would make the right to shelter for the poor and right to health mandatory. In the next five years, it would also try to bring about 70 crore, living above the poverty line, into the middle classes. Women needed to be empowered and 33 per cent reservation would be provided in Parliament and State legislatures. Around 2,000 police stations exclusively for women would be set up.
Greater Hyderabad Congress president, Danam Nagender translated Mr. Gandhi’s speech. TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmiah and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also addressed the gathering.
