‘Both make tall promises’: Rahul targets KCR, PM Modi at Telangana rally

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s style of functioning is no different than that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Like Modi, KCR (as the Telangana chief minister is informally called) is also an expert at making tall promises such as distribution of three acres of land to SCs and STs, construction of 22 lakh double-bedroom houses and filling up of one lakh vacant government jobs. But none of them were fulfilled. More than 400 farmers committed suicide during his four-year rule in Telangana, but there was no help forthcoming from the government,” Gandhi said at a public meeting in Sherilingampalli on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

“Today, Telangana has become the capital of corruption... wherever you see, somebody’s land is snatched. This state is ruled by a one-family government. All the benefits are only for one family,” he added.

The Congress president went on to question Modi’s silence on issues such as corruption, atrocities against women, and attacks on minorities, Dalits and tribals. He alleged that Modi was unable to provide any answer to why the Centre has a ‘secret agreement’ with France over the purchase of Rafale aircraft at ‘exorbitant rates’, despite the fact that the aircraft can be manufactured indigenously by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

“The Prime Minister, who claims to be the chowkidar of the nation, had no moral courage to look into my eyes when I raised this question in Lok Sabha. He gave a lengthy speech looking in different directions and conveniently skirted the points raised by me,” Gandhi said.

He claimed that the Modi government had signed the aircraft deal only to benefit “his dear friend Anil Ambani” despite the latter’s lack of experience in manufacturing aircraft. “The reason is simple. His friend was in deep debt and Modi wanted to help him. When I questioned Modi, there was no answer,” he said.

Gandhi asserted that while the Prime Minister was quick to parrot slogans such as “Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao”, he did not utter a single word when a BJP MLA allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in Uttar Pradesh and female children were gang-raped in Bihar.

“Minorities are being brutally murdered in different parts of the country, and Dalits are being lynched by saffron gangs. Yet, he doesn’t speak out. Even the media, which enjoyed freedom of expression during the UPA regime, is now gagged and intimidated,” he said.

Turning his attention to Rao, the Congress president accused him of surrendering to the Modi government although the latter had “failed” to fulfil the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation act. “He supported the NDA government in every aspect — GST, demonetisation, presidential and vice-presidential elections. How can the people believe him?” he asked.

Gandhi said that the Congress would fulfil all the promises made by the Centre to both the Telugu states, including according special category status to Andhra Pradesh. He asked party workers to launch a door-to-door campaign aimed at exposing the misrule of the NDA and the TRS governments.

The Congress president’s charges drew a sharp response from Rao, who ‘advised’ the Congress president to be more ‘mature’ while making remarks against the government. “Rahul Gandhi should improve his maturity. He should not read a script written by someone else. He should know the facts about the state’s finances,” the Telangana chief minister told reporters in Hyderabad.

Rao said nearly one lakh jobs have been announced by the State Public Service Commission, a fact that Gandhi could verify. He said the Congress leader could also check on the status of the two-bedroom house scheme being implemented across Telangana.

(With PTI inputs)

First Published: Aug 13, 2018 23:38 IST