Telangana BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Thursday accused the government of turning ‘blind’ to the woes of farmers whose crops have been devastated and citizens affected due to flooding of their colonies in the recent heavy rains in many places across the State.
“It has been estimated that 6.5 lakh acres of agriculture has been affected with farmers suffering heavy losses and scores of people lost all their belongings in the rains, but there is no sign of any succour from the government. Where is the Chief Minister and what is he doing in Delhi?” he questioned during a public meeting at Choutkoor in Andole Assembly constituency on the 13th day of his Praja Sangrama Yatra.
“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao did not bother to console people during the floods in the twin cities or in Warangal when several poor families were worst affected. There was no response when TSRTC employees were committing suicides during the stir. This government came to power with support of the poor and downtrodden, however, it does not seem to care about their plight,” he charged, amid cheers and slogans.
The area had been deprived of Singur water and the assurance to ensure sufficient water through the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation too had not materialised though thousands of crores of rupees had been spent and gobbled up in the form of ‘commissions’, he claimed. “Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao gives speeches and makes tall promises during the elections but does nothing later. The promise of three acres to Dalits, jobs for the unemployed, double bedroom houses, etc. have been forgotten. I wonder why Dalit organisations keep quiet even when Ambedkar statue assurance was also not fulfilled,” he said.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar questioned the government’s commitment to ‘Dalit Bandhu’ and said it would be released only if there was a byelection. “Everyone knows development and welfare schemes are grounded only when there is a bypoll or during the elections otherwise this government has no money to pay salaries to its employees and has stopped fee reimbursement scheme to 15 lakh students,” he said.
The BJP chief claimed that all the existing schemes under implementation in TS were because of the Centre’s largesse and recalling the words of famous poet Kaloji Narayana Rao on his birth anniversary, he said Mr. Rao should be defeated in the next elections to free ‘Telangana Talli’ from his clutches as he had come to power through “fake fasts”.
Terming TRS a ‘Tughlaq’ party and Majlis a ‘Taliban’ party, he said his party would not be cowed down by their threats and sought public support for the proposed meeting of Home Minister Amit Shah at Nirmal on Sept.17, observed as the ‘Telangana Liberation Day’. Former MLA Babu Mohan and others were present.