Stung by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s attack on the party, Telangana Congress reacted sharply and said the Chief Minister had forgotten decency and claimed the abusive language was to divert attention from his failures.
“The language used by the Chief Minister will never be used by any person sitting on that chair in India and they would consider it an insult to the party that gave Telangana,” TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said at a press conference here. Senior Congress leaders Ponnam Prabhakar, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, V. Hanmantha Rao, M. Kodanda Reddy, Gudur Narayan Reddy were among those present.
The TPCC chief said that he was surprised by the language and tone and tenor of KCR while attacking the Congress for raising the problems of migrant labourers, farmers and mishandling of the coronavirus issue. “If the Chief Minister is cutting salaries of employees but paying the contractors fully should we keep quiet?” he asked, alleging that in March crores of rupees were released for contractors when the State was under lockdown.
Repeating all the harsh and insulting words used by the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy said during 30 years of his political career he had not seen any Chief Minister stooping down to such a low level. He said it was unfortunate that a person who began his career as a ‘passport broker’ was calling Congress leaders ‘brokers’. “What would you call a person who went on record in Assembly that coronavirus could be treated with a paracetamol tablet?” he asked.
Baseless allegations
Mr. Reddy challenged the Chief Minister to come with him to Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Punjab to study the procurement of farmers’ produce rather than making baseless allegations without stepping out from his palatial buildings. “You don’t even have figures of migrant workers in the State and you claim to have helped them,” he said.
The TPCC chief wanted to know why the Chief Minister was getting agitated if representatives of some small parties meet the Chief Secretary to raise public issues. “Remember, you were also a small party with just one MP when Congress granted Telangana,” he reminded. “This arrogance comes from the illegal money made through Mission Bhageeratha and Kaleshwaram contracts,” he alleged.
He said the KCR should have at least read the representation submitted to the Governor, and claimed that the Chief Minister insulted the Governor’s institution itself, speaking all lies on the representation given by the Congress. The Chief Minister’s abuses will not demoralise the Congress and the party would continue to be the voice of the people, he added.
