Minorities felt the safest during the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA rule during the past five years contrary to “misinformation” spread by opponents that their places of worship would be targeted as Prime Minister Narendra Modi believed in ‘Sabka vikas, Sabke Saath’, said Union Minister for Tourism Alphons Joseph Kannanthanam.
Addressing a press conference before interacting with first-time voters at Chiranjeevi Reddy Institute of Engineering and Technology here on Friday, Mr. Kannanthanam said he himself was a minority and never felt that his community was threatened.
“Manimala village in Kottayam district of Kerala, where I hail from, had no electricity, but today, almost households in rural and urban areas have a power connection, thanks to the initiatives taken by the Centre. As many as 2.6 crore connections have been given till date and saturation coverage will be achieved by the month-end,” he said.
‘A.P. can’t ask for SCS’
It was not possible to give the Special Category Status to every State and the Centre had given sufficient funds for the development of Andhra Pradesh. People from A.P. were in top positions all over the world, especially, the United States, he said, adding such a developed State should not ask for the SCS.
“On one side, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu claims that he has developed the State, and on the other side he seeks the SCS and additional funds claiming A.P. is backward,” the Minister said.
Listing the achievements of the BJP government, the Minister said people should ensure the party came back to power.
Terming the Mahagathbandhan a ‘coalition of contradictions,’ he observed that while these parties fight against each other for four years, they come together in the last six months just to come to power.
BJYM State president Ramesh Naidu termed Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s allegation that the BJP had made plans two years ago to go into war at this point of time, ‘irresponsible.’
Anantapur district president J. Ankala Reddy and general secretary Duddukunta Venkateswara Reddy were present.
Students took selfies, shook hands with the Union Minister and asked several questions.