Not Vision 2047, But Poison 2047 For Students: BRS

BRS MLA and former minister Harish Rao today launched a scathing attack on the Congress government, alleging that frequent food poisoning incidents in residential schools had turned Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's Vision 2047 into Poison 2047 for students.

Rao, accompanied by MLAs Kaleru Venkatesh and Mutha Gopal, visited the King Koti Government Hospital to console students of the Bagh Lingampally Minority Residential School who were hospitalised after consuming contaminated food. He also enquired with doctors about the treatment being provided to the victims.

Speaking to the media after the visit, he criticised what he termed the misplaced priorities of the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"Every single day, students from some Gurukula or government school are landing up in hospitals due to food poisoning. The situation is so dire that recently students from the Shameerpet BC Gurukula had to go to a police station to lodge a complaint against the Revanth Reddy government because they were being served rice with insects. Similarly, 43 children from Chandu Naik thanda in Madhapur were hospitalised. Now, 90 students from the Bagh Lingampally Minority Gurukula are suffering. This is a complete failure of the administration," Rao said.

"Revanth Reddy boasts about Vision 2047, but for these students, it has become Poison 2047. Students admitted to hospitals are now terrified of returning to their hostels. Under KCR's leadership students were served fine rice, but now they are forced to eat undercooked coarse rice (doddu biyyam) filled with insects. If there is any honesty left, ensure that these children get a stomachful of quality food," he added.

He said that the slogan Telangana Rising existed only in television and newspaper advertisements. "The reality is that government school students are falling sick in hospitals. What exactly is rising in the State? Corruption, anarchy, arrogance and land encroachments are what are rising," he alleged.

"The Chief Minister seems to have no empathy. He has not visited a single hospitalised student to date. Instead, he is busy playing football. He built a stadium for himself at a cost of Rs 5 crore and is ready to spend Rs 100 crore to bring Lionel Messi to play football, but cannot provide a decent meal to students. Revanth Reddy has time for 61 trips to Delhi, but no time to console these victims," he said.

The BRS leader also said that Rahul Gandhi, who had claimed responsibility for the Six Guarantees, visited Hyderabad to watch a football match but had no time for the families of 300 farmers and 160 auto drivers who committed suicides, or for the 116 students who died in hostels.

"It is shameful that he flies in on a special plane to enjoy football while ignoring the tears of students suffering from food poisoning. He also ignores BCs fighting for 42% reservation. Does he not have the wisdom to question his own Chief Minister about this negligence?" Rao asked.

The BRS MLA also alleged that Revanth Reddy had utterly failed as both Chief Minister and Education Minister. "Stop making grand claims about a trillion-dollar economy and a Future City. First, ensure that hostel students are served rice without insects," Rao said.