Criticising the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre and the K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led government in Telangana for not fulfilling the promises made to people before the elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has asserted that his party would focus on addressing the problems faced by youth, students, farmers and other sections whose problems have compounded ever since the two governments took the reins.
Mr. Gandhi launched a tirade against the Narendra Modi government which he alleged was steeped in corruption with deals like Rafale, while the TRS government was equally guilty of denying youth the aspirations for which they fought for the separate State. He drew comparison between Mr. Modi and Mr. Rao, claiming that “a designer sitting in New Delhi is ably supported by the redesigner in Telangana in the loot of the money from common man. Redesign is the new name of corruption and loot of public money.”
“The Chief Minister has supported the Gabbar Singh Tax (GST) introduced by the Central government which had serious implications for the small and medium businesses which are backbone to the Telangana economy. The same is the case with the demonetisation,” he said, addressing an impressive public meeting here on Tuesday.
Mr. Gandhi’s speech was translated in Telugu by TPCC chief spokesperson Shravan Dasoju.
‘Favour to Anil Ambani’
Mr. Gandhi was particularly critical of Mr. Modi for his redesign of the Rafale deal to “gift away” lakhs of crores to his industrialist-friend Anil Ambani.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao is no less in his redesign of important projects like Pranahita-Chevella, which saw cost escalation from ₹ 38,000 crore to ₹1 lakh crore after redesigned as Kaleshwaram project. Procedures like tendering were not followed to give scope for transparency and the entire amount had gone into the pockets of members of a single family.
“Mr. Modi is preparing his designs at the Centre while Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao is busy with redesigns here. While the Modi government has unleashed police raj on the voices raised against it, the Telangana government is not allowing people to raise their voices,” he said.
Freebies to industrialists
On the farmers’ issues, he said, the Prime Minister, who is doling out freebies on corporates by waiving their dues worth lakhs of crores, is unwilling to give the same benefit to farmers. The Narendra Modi government had spent around ₹ 10,000 crore towards enhancing the minimum support price for farmers in the last four years, but the Congress government kept its promise of waiving farmers loans to the tune of ₹ 31,000 crore in Karnataka alone, he said.
The Congress, he said, is committed to addressing the problems faced by small and medium businesses as and when it comes to power and it would make necessary changes in the GST to ensure that these sections are not affected by the new tax regime. “We will exempt the goods consumed by the common man from the GST purview,” he said.
The Congress government would focus on providing employment to youth, protect farmers and take steps to make health and education affordable to the poor. Mr. Gandhi said the party would select people with track record of service to party as its candidates in the next elections.
‘No ticket to
para-droppers’
“There will be no tickets to para-droppers,” he said, exhorting youth to enter politics through Congress as a single family is now benefiting with the strength offered by Telangana.
