Congress, BJP express dismay over Governor’s address

They point out that there is no mention of several promises made by the ruling party

The Congress has expressed disappointment over the Governor’s address to the joint session of Telangana Legislature on Friday and pointed out that there was no mention of several promises made by the ruling party during the run-up to 2018 Assembly elections.

Senior legislator T. Jayaprakash Reddy alias Jagga Reddy commented that Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s address was an anti-climax as she had been hitting hard at the government policies including protocol issues till the other day but her speech was damp squib. “She appears to have made a U-turn after the High Court’s suggestion to the two institutions – Governor and the State Government – to sort out the issue among themselves amicably and her speech was a clear reflection of an understanding”, he observed.

In a statement, Nalgonda MP and former president of Pradesh Congress Committee N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Governor’s speech was “factually incorrect and misleading”. It did not touch upon any problem being faced by people including unemployment, inflation, price rise, agrarian crisis, neglect of education and health sectors, rising debt and deteriorating law and order situation in Telangana. The claims on recruitment were also not substantiated with facts, he felt.

Senior vice-president of TPCC Mallu Ravi said there was not even mention of the unemployment allowance, double-bedroom houses, ₹3 lakh assistance for building house in their own site by the poor, three acres of land to dalit families, fee reimbursement, paltry release of funds under Dalit Bandhu and others.

On the other hand, BJP legislator Eatala Rajender said the Government had made the Governor speak lies. In case the installed capacity of power had increased in Telangana why were the farmers not getting 24x7 power, he asked. There was also no mention of the problems being faced by the farming community in the Dharani portal.

Echoing similar views, Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy said in a statement that the State Government had even boasted schemes such as ‘Basti Dawakhanas’ (neighbourhood clinics) being implemented with the Centre’s funds as its own schemes. He also criticised the State Government for making the Governor speak lies in the matter of 24x7 power supply to farmers when they were staging protests in front of sub-stations demanding proper supply of power.