Congress Ridicules TRS Manifesto, Asks Where The Money Is

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Ponnala Lakshmaiah has ridiculed the manifesto released by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) here on Friday.

Speaking to media persons at Gandhi Bhavan, Ponnala described the TRS manifesto as a "bundle of lies" aimed at luring and cheating the people of Telangana.

He said that almost all the promises being made by the TRS were impractical and could not be implemented, and accused KCR of building castles in the airs and making tall promises without exploring the possibilities of their implementation. He asked KCR to explain the sources of funds through which he desired to implement those promises.

Commenting on KCR's promise of giving 12% reservation to Muslims, he said that the Andhra Pradesh High Court had struck down the 5% reservation given to Muslims by the Congress Government. The case of 4% reservation was still being argued in the Supreme Court. Therefore, KCR should explain how 12% reservation for Muslims is legally possible, he demanded.

Further, KCR had been promising to give Deputy Chief Minister's post to a Muslim leader, but had denied tickets to Muslims, with only one member from the community figuring in the first list of 69 candidates, he said. Without making Muslims MLAs, how did KCR plan to make one of them a Deputy CM, he asked.

He added that the TRS had replicated the Congress promise of giving ex-gratia and government jobs to the families of Telangana martyrs.

He concluded by saying that the people would never believe the false promises being made by KCR, and would vote only for the Congress party which could develop Telangana.

When asked about the protest by the minorities' leaders going on in his own party, Ponnala said the issue would be sorted out soon. He said that the Congress was a democratic party and such protests were common.

Earlier, Ponnala admitted several leaders of Mahabubnagar district belonging to the YSR Congress Party into the Congress. (INN)