TPCC head and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today alleged that both the TRS and the BJP had betrayed Telangana by "sabotaging its economy" and "ruining the careers of lakhs of youth".
Addressing a meeting with the leaders of all the departments and cells of the TPCC at the Gandhi Bhavan on the upcoming MLC elections in the graduate constituencies of Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda and Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar, Reddy said that both the TRS and the BJP had been "utterly unjust" to the people of Telangana ever since they both came to power in 2014.
He faulted the "flawed policy-making" of the BJP-led Centre and the TRS-led state government for having pushed the state into a "huge debt trap" of nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crore, and for taking away lakhs of jobs and employment opportunities from the youth.
Saying that the "injudicious" spending of public money by the TRS government had pushed Telangana into a financial crisis, the MP alleged, "On an average, the state government has taken loans of Rs 50,000 crore every year at very high interest rates. Instead of being spent on projects that would strengthen the state and benefit its people, this money was then spent on projects that fetched hefty commissions for TRS leaders. The future generations of our state will now be forced to repay these loans for the next two decades. Of course, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has consistently misused the resources of Telangana to benefit only his own family. Similarly, the BJP government at the Centre has aggravated the situation by not releasing adequate funds to our state. The neglect of the Centre coupled with the financial recklessness of the TRS government has turned Telangana bankrupt."
He flayed the two governments for neglecting the students and the youth of the state, who had been a prominent part of the Telangana movement, and said that the treatment meted out to them by the BJP and the TRS was an insult to their sacrifices.
"The TRS and BJP have both specifically targeted the students and the youth by slashing funds for the education sector and by not taking steps to tackle rising unemployment. The statistics of the All India Council for Technical Education and several other agencies clearly show a sharp decline in the number of college intakes, which is likely a result of the KCR regime's practice of keeping universities and other educational institutions deprived of funds. It did not even bother to appoint Vice-Chancellors or faculty in most universities. This has had a negative impact on the academic performance of students and reduced the number of pass-outs by several lakhs. Further, the denial of fee reimbursement and scholarships schemes has forced scores of students to discontinue their higher studies under the TRS' rule. The BJP too has been lackadaisical about releasing funds to our state" he said.
"The two governments seem to also have conspired to deprive the youth of Telangana of job opportunities. They have stopped every project that could have generated a large number of jobs. Consequently, the unemployment rate has doubled in Telangana since 2014. The fate of the Information Technology Investment Region project is the biggest example of this - the project, sanctioned by the previous Congress-led UPA government, had the potential to create over 50 lakh jobs in Hyderabad and its neighbouring districts. But neither did the TRS pursue it with any urgency, nor did the Centre ever grant it the necessary funds. Other projects, which were promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, like the Kazipet railway coach factory and the Bayyaram steel plant, were also not implemented. This denied the youth millions of new job opportunities," he added.
According to Reddy, more than 30 lakh youth in Telangana, including over 19 lakh qualified youth who registered themselves with the Telangana State Public Service Commission, are currently unemployed. He also said that the Pay Revision Commission had identified over 1.91 lakh vacancies in various departments of the state government.
"Thousands of posts are vacant in the government departments. However, instead of coming up with specifics about when those posts will be filled, and how the remaining unemployed youth will be given jobs, IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao is engrossed in coming up with
false data on recruitment," he said.
The TPCC head also accused the CM of deliberately delaying the implementation of the new PRC, and of mistreating the teachers and government employees of the state. He added that many teaching posts were removed after the BJP and the TRS came to power, and that not a single new teacher had been given a job in the seven-year tenures of the two parties.
He then asserted that the two parties were now using "unfair means" to secure votes for the upcoming elections in the state, and claimed, "While the BJP has been hoping to make political gains by triggering communal hatred, the leaders of the TRS have been distributing the party's ill-gotten wealth from commissions and kickbacks secured through different projects to lure voters."
The Congress leader then turned to the party's rank and file present at the meeting and asked them to inform the people of the "damage" caused by the TRS and the BJP to Telangana's economy, saying that the situation would only take a turn for the better of the Congress came to power in the state.
"The victory of the Congress in both the MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies and in the Nagarjuna Sagar by-election will force both the TRS and the BJP to change their ways, and to redirect their energies into working for the state," he said.
Reddy also urged them to devote themselves to working towards the party's victory in the upcoming elections.
The MP said that the graduates finally had an opportunity to teach both the saffron and the pink parties a fitting lesson in the MLC elections, and appealed to them to vote for the Congress candidates Ramulu Naik (contesting for the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda seat) and G Chinna Reddy (contesting for the Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar seat) in the elections.