Congress Releases Manifesto For Telangana Assembly Elections

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge today released the Congress' election manifesto for Telangana, with 36 items, in Hyderabad.

Speaking on the occasion, Kharge exuded confidence that the Congress would come to power in the State this time.

"No matter how many conspiracies PM Modi and KCR hatch, the Congress will wrest power in Telangana. The people have already decided to vote for our party," he claimed.

He added that for the past few days BRS head and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao had been scared of losing the upcoming elections, and that the fear of defeat was clearly seen in his voice. He also remarked derisively that KCR, who always stayed in his farmhouse, was no more a force in Telangana, and asked the CM to stay in his farmhouse for ever.

Attacking the BRS, Kharge said that Sonia Gandhi had given statehood to the Telangana region after seeing the sacrifices of the students and the government employees of the State, but that those who looted the people had ended up ruling the State. He alleged that the ruling party leaders were indulging in corruption in irrigation projects, development schemes and every other avenue. He specifically accused the KCR government of indulging in corruption in the renowned Kaleswaram lift irrigation project.

He asserted that the Congress however was dedicated to clean governance and to keeping its promises. Claiming that the party had fulfilled five guarantees in Karnataka, Kharge said that the six guarantees made by the party in Telangana would be implemented as well.

"We are fulfilling every promise made in Karnataka. We will similarly implement the six guarantees we made for Telangana. A decision on them will be taken on the first day of the formation of the cabinet once we win," he said.

He said that the party's first goals was to implement the Mahalakshmi scheme to provide Rs 2,500 to all the women of the State, domestic gas cylinders for Rs 500 each and free journey in all the RTC buses.

The following are the promises made by the Congress in its manifesto:

Eradication of unemployment
Rs 4,000 unemployment allowance to the unemployed youth
Two lakh government jobs to be filled in the first year itself
SC, ST, BC and minority backlog posts to be filled up in the first year
Electric scooters for every young girl above 18 years of age
Increase in SC reservation
ABCD classification
Closure of belt shops
250 yard land, honorarium to Telangana activists
24-hour free electricity for agriculture
Rs 3 lakh interest-free crop loan to farmers
Establishment of sterilisation centres in every district for prevention of monkeys
Probe by sitting judge into Kaleshwaram corruption
Mega DSC recruitment decision in first cabinet meeting
Constitution of Rural Youth Finance Corporation with a budget of Rs 1,000 crore
Free internet for students
6% to 15% increase in the budget for the education sector
Establishment of new universities in Khammam and Adilabad
Replacement of Dharani portal with Bhumata portal
Rs 5,000 honorarium for rice and ration dealers
Issuance of new ration cards
Free electricity for usage of less than 200 units
Financial assistance of Rs 12,000 per year to each auto driver
Rs 1 lakh and 10 grams of gold under Kalyanamastu
Interest-free loans to women's organisations
Honorarium of Rs 5,000 per month to junior advocates for the first five years
Rs 100 crore for a journalists' welfare fund
Solving the problem of houses for journalists in Hyderabad and other districts
Constitution of an NRI Welfare Board
Rs 6,000 pension for differently-abled persons
Provision of Rs 12,000 per month as Dhoopa-Deepa Naivedyam to temples
...and so on.