Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the party will strive to rid the country of BJP’s “misrule” and usher in a pro-poor and farmer-centric regime.
Outlining the BRS agenda of becoming a force to reckon with in the national political arena, Mr.Rao said the BRS will work in tandem with progressive forces, including the CPI and the CPI(M), to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The party’s aim is to implement the Telangana government’s landmark schemes — free power supply to farmers, Rythu Bandhu, Dalit Bandhu and piped drinking water for every household — in the country, Mr.Rao said, while addressing a mammoth gathering at the BRS’ maiden public meeting in Khammam on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Uttar Pradesh former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, CPI general secretary D.Raja and CPI(M) State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, among others.
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr.Rao alleged that farmer suicides are continuing unabated in the country under the present regime. The BJP dispensation at the Centre has earned notoriety for anti-farmer and pro-corporate policies, leaving the farmers in distress and inflicting miseries on the common man, he added.
The party’s public meeting in Khammam drew a huge crowd. | Photo Credit: Arrangement
Despite the availability of abundant natural resources, the country is lagging behind in all spheres due to the incompetency of the BJP government, he charged, adding that the BJP and Congress are trying to shift the blame on each other over the dismal conditions prevailing in the country.
He said, “India will be made a power cut-free country and 25 lakh families will be given Dalit Bandhu benefits every year in the country if BRS is voted to power.”
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The BRS proposed 35% reservation for women in legislative bodies and abolition of the Agnipath scheme for armed forces and restoration of the old system of recruitment, he said, and pointed out that the BRS agenda, which is being worked out by a team of retired IAS officers and retired judges, will be made public soon.
Taking a dig at Mr.Modi, he said, “The Make-in-India initiative has become a joke. The BJP regime at the Centre is hell bent on selling the public sector undertakings, including Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and the LIC.”
If those undertakings are sold, “we will bring them back under the ambit of public sector again after coming to power”, he added.
Echoing the views of earlier speakers, he said the BJP regime’s slogan appears to be “Socialisation of the losses and privatisation of the profits”. This formula is meant to loot the poor and hand over public assets to corporates, he alleged.
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Mr.Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was blatantly violating Constitutional provisions, undermining the country’s federal structure and misusing the offices of the Governors.
“We appreciate the BRS’s firm stand against the authoritarian and divisive politics of the persons at the helm at the Centre,” he said, underlining the need for a united movement to defeat the communal forces.
Hailing Telangana government’s Kanti Velugu mass eye screening programme, Mr.Kejriwal and Mr.Mann vowed to implement the scheme in their respective States.
