Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday said the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi had won all elections with cash and liquor, and expressed fear that it would resort to the same practice in the urban local body elections now.
Speaking to party leaders in a meeting here at Halia, he advised them to be vigilant about such ‘poll offers’ and also check the practice at local level. “TRS election victories after 2014 are not based on performance, but on distribution of cash and liquor. If elections are held in a free and fair manner, it could not have won even a single seat,” he said. Commissions earned through irrigation projects are funds for elections and all claims of poll surveys favouring TRS victory, by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, are to mislead people, he said. Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy also described the poll promises of the TRS as “tall and fake”, and said the promises of 2014 and the 2018 elections are yet to be fulfilled.
“Promise of reservations to STs and Muslims and three acres land to Dalits made in 2014 is forgotten, and ₹ 3016 allowance for the unemployed and ₹ 1 lakh crop loan waiver announced in 2018 are not talked about,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said Nagarjunasagar constituency, like others, also has promises to be fulfilled.
He assured that he would explore opportunities to make Nagarjunasagar an international tourist destination, besides utilising funds from the MPLADS soon to better civic amenities.
He reiterated that his public interest litigation against the State Election Commission was over violation, in releasing the poll schedule before announcement of wards reservation, of the Telangana Municipalities Act.
ADVERTISEMENT
Former Congress Legislature Party leader K. Jana Reddy who was present said the party would stand by all its workers, and urged them to work hard for victory in the current election.