The party alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had in six years completely shattered the original dream of Telangana, and ruined the lives of its citizens.
Former minister and ex-Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had in six years completely shattered the original dream of Telangana, and ruined the lives of its citizens.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan after participating in a flag hoisting on the occasion of the Telangana Formation Day today, Shabbir Ali said that statehood for the Telangana region was the result of a six-decade-long struggle full of sacrifices by the youth, students and other people.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had granted statehood for the region as she wanted it to achieve "neellu, nidhulu, niyaamakaalu" (water, funds and jobs). However, the new state, immediately after its formation, fell into the trap of KCR, who lured the people with big promises, he alleged.
Within a span of six years, KCR had turned the state into a dictatorship by dismantling all democratic institutions and crushing all voices of dissent, Shabbir Ali said.
He pointed out as an example the arrest of top Congress leaders on the Formation Day.
"Is it not strange that the leaders of the Congress, which granted statehood for Telangana, have been arrested on the pretext of stopping a possible protest against injustices to the state? This will be remembered as a Black Day in the history of Telangana," he said.
Shabbir Ali claimed that a simple analysis of the journey of Telangana as a state since 2014 would reveal that it was neither able to provide jobs nor achieve financial growth. He said KCR had failed to provide even the one lakh jobs he promised during the 2014 election campaigning. And acting diametrically opposite to his promise of free KG to PG education, KCR had systematically sabotaged entire education system.
Health remained the most neglected sector in the TRS regime, Shabbir Ali said. The promise of establishing super-specialty hospitals in each district headquarter was totally forgotten. Nothing was spent even on the upgradation of the existing healthcare infrastructure or manpower, and the situation had turned so bad that the state government was unable to handle outbreak of even common viral diseases like malaria and dengue.
"This negligence proved quite costly when Telangana had to face a pandemic like Covid-19. Today, our state is not equipped to handle things if the situation deteriorates further," he lamented.
"Telangana was a rich and revenue-surplus state at the time of its formation. But the KCR government has turned it into a bankrupt and debt-ridden state. The state's own resources have been mismanaged, and huge loans to the tune of Rs 3 lakh crore at high interest rates have been taken to get commissions. Today we are left with no option but to reduce our daily meals from two to one to ensure payment of loan installments and interest. The interest and repayments will go on for at least 10-15 years. KCR has ruined the lives and careers of even future generations," he alleged.
The Congress leader also said that the TRS government had wasted over Rs 2 lakh crore in the name of new and re-designed irrigation projects. However it did not spend even Rs 20,000 crore to complete the pending projects, he said.
"Statistics have been rigged to make fake claims of growth, and Telangana's resources have been swindled by KCR, his family and a few close associates like termites. The TRS regime failed even to protect the state's share of the waters in the Krishna and Godavari rivers. Everything revolves around the KCR family, and its activities remain confined to Siddipet, Gajwel and Sircilla," he added.
The Congress leader stressed that a new movement needed be launched to accomplish the real dream of Telangana. He said that it was the Congress which had granted statehood, and the same party would launch this new movement, too, to attain the real objective of the formation of Telangana state.