Congress leader and MP A Revanth Reddy today dared Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao to sit on a fast unto death at Delhi's Jantar Mantar in order to pressurise the Centre to sanction the much-coveted Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project and implement all the "unkept promises" made to the state in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
Penning an open letter to Rao, he said that he had been unable to keep himself from laughing at the statements made by the latter on the ITIR issue in the last couple of days.
"It is difficult to keep myself from laughing at the sudden vigour with which the TRS is pursuing the ITIR issue. Where was it slumbering all this time? Why didn't it put a stop to the unjust treatment that was meted out to Telangana by the Centre any earlier? The state government has never before pressured the Centre to fulfil the promises made to our state in the AP Reorganisation Act, including the establishment of a tribal university in Mulugu, a steel plant at Bayyaram, a railway coach factory in Kazipet, a mining university at Kothagudem, a 4,000-megawatt NTPC power plant, an AIIMS and the ITIR project, in any meaningful way. The vitality with which it is doing so now is clearly a result of the upcoming elections in the graduates' constituencies," he alleged.
The MP also mocked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for having made a similar "show" of pushing for the project in the run-up to last year's GHMC elections, but then "surrendering himself" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the election results were declared.
He criticised the TRS regime for habitually putting up "a show of deep rivalry" with the BJP ahead of the elections in the state, and then resuming its "friendship" with the saffron party after the conclusion of the elections. He claimed that this had become the pattern of behaviour displayed by both parties for the last seven years.
Reddy also reminded KTR of the time when the CM had urged Modi to shower love on the state instead of releasing funds for its development, and added that the BJP had not only been unjust to the state but had also cheated its people of employment opportunities.
"The TRS government has also meted out its fair share of injustice to the state by supporting the Centre. The people of Telangana are also aware of the secret friendship between the TRS and the BJP, especially since the TRS has always extended its support to all the anti-people decisions taken by the Centre. The people will no longer buy into such theatrics. It would be best for the TRS, therefore, to mend its ways and work sincerely for the state's development," he asserted.
Revanth Reddy has been quite harsh in condemning the TRS government for its failure to pursue the ITIR's sanctioning with the Centre. In fact, he
lashed out at both the Centre and the pink party just some days ago, and accused them of causing the project to fail. The increasing severity of his criticisms against the rivals of his party can likely be attributed the fact that the day of polling for the elections in the graduates' constituencies of Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda is very nearly here