Komatireddy Rajagopal, Errabelli Spar In Assembly

The Telangana Assembly on Saturday witnessed heated exchanges between Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao.

Participating in debate on the thanksgiving motion for the address of the Governor, Reddy asked whether there was any democracy left in the state. He alleged that the ruling party wanted that there be no one to question its misdeeds, and was therefore bent upon eliminating all opposition, practicing money politics to that end.

He also criticized the TRS goverment on multiple other issues. He said that that there was no possibility for the poor to visit any government hospital any more as they were all totally destroyed, and that the corporate hospitals were looting the state. And while complimenting the state government for taking up the Kaleswaram lift irrigation project, he asked the state government when it would complete the Palamuru-Rangareddy life irrigation scheme.

He also said that although companies were being set up in the state in the name of creation of employment for the local youth, no employment was actually being given to them, and that no act was enacted to provide employment to them.

Reddy also claimed that the small and marginal farmers were facing problems due to lact of 24-hour electricity.

At this juncture, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao expressed his displeasure over the comments made by Reddy. He said that the state would have turned into a desert but for the Kaleshwaram project, and that the farmers were quite happy due to it. Saying that the Congress leaders had no right to talk about water, he warned Reddy that the people in the villages would attack him if he visited them and made such comments.

He also dared Reddy to come for a debate at any place in Nalgonda, Suryapet and Kodada on the issue of development. Another minister, Vemula Prashant Reddy, also attacked Rajagopal Reddy saying that the latter was speaking in an insulting manner about democracy. He reminded the Congress MLA that the people in the state had voted again for the TRS in the recent local body and cooperative sector elections, too.