Roads and Buildings Minister V. Prashanth Reddy has ridiculed the Congress party for its manifesto and the poll promises, charging that all of them lack any vision.
Contesting his third straight election and confident of retaining his seat from Balkonda Assembly constituency, Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy has said the Opposition Congress lacks vision for the State of Telangana while the BJP has been relegated to a third position as it has failed to attract the voters.
Interacting with The Hindu during his election campaign in Bhattapur, Tadpakal and Ergatla villages of Nizamabad district, Mr. Reddy exuded confidence that the BRS under the leadership of K. Chandrasekhar Rao would come back to power with comfortable majority.
The Minister questioned the commitment of the Congress party to the promises it was making. “My only question to them is why are these promises not implemented in the States where Congress party is ruling. Take the example of Karnataka, why did their top leaders not make the tall promises that they are making now in Telangana. Congress is a national party and it should have uniform policies across all States. Why these double standards,” he pointed out.
He expressed his willingness to send the Congress and the BJP leaders to neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra to see for themselves how their governments were doing. “If they are satisfied that the programmes and schemes in Telangana are better than the ones in Karnataka and Maharashtra, will they vote for us,” he questioned.
He mocked at the three-hour power supply and 10 HP pumpsets for agriculture is enough for farm sector quip by TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy. “Such statements only show their contempt for the farmers,” he said.
Expressing his satisfaction with the performance of the BRS government in the second term, the Minister said barring 10 per cent most of the promises had been fulfilled. These promises would also be fulfilled once the party rides to power for the third time. “The welfare and development schemes for the poor and the weaker sections have reached the needy people,” he said, adding that the new promises in the manifesto by BRS will be game changer and no force can stop the party from returning to power. He opined that there was no anti-incumbency against the BRS government. He reasoned that if there was any anti-incumbency, it would been reflected by now. “There could be some anti-incumbency against a few MLAs but that is manageable. The Opposition parties cannot hope to reap the benefits of any anti-incumbency as they are claiming,” he noted.
He also made light of the charges that BRS and the BJP have a nexus which is visible in the actions. “It is the Opposition Congress which is working overtime to accuse the BRS and BJP of nexus. They are levelling these allegations on the grounds that party MLC K. Kavitha has not been arrested in the Delhi liquor scam case. She has appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning and if there was any strong charge, further action would have been taken,” he added.
“If we also say why not action has been taken against the AICC leader Sonia Gandhi when she too appeared before the same ED and in the same office complex, does that mean that there is a nexus between the Congress and the BJP? It is ridiculous to make such allegations,” he pointed out.
Mr. Reddy, during his road shows and election rallies, harped on what the BRS government had done so far and made a pointed reference to the new promises like enhancement of the social security pensions, Gruhalaxmi, Kalyanalaxmi schemes and insurance cover for all sections of the society.
