Shabbir Ali Calls KCR RSS Supporter, Modi Agent

Senior Congress leader and former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir today made a series of allegations against Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and claimed that though the latter wore a "mask of secularism", he was a follower of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist outfit, and a "staunch follower" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking at a public meeting aimed at mobilising support for the party's candidate for the upcoming Nagarjuna Sagar by-election, K Jana Reddy, at Hill Colony in the constituency, he said, "KCR uses his mask of secularism to mislead the minorities of the state when he is a follower of the ideals espoused by the RSS and a staunch follower of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

The leader then listed out all the instances where he felt the TRS regime headed by KCR had supported the "controversial decisions" of the BJP-led Centre, and claimed, "CM KCR backed PM Modi when he wanted to implement the disastrous demonetisation, the GST, and during the elections of the country's President and Vice President. Most importantly, the MPs of the TRS supported the controversial Triple Talaq Bill, the NIA Amendment Bill as well as the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC). Although our CM claims that he was opposed to both the CAA and the NRC, the TRS regime did not even pass a resolution in the state Assembly to announce that it would not implement the two measures."

He also claimed that unlike the TRS, the Congress had always supported the minority communities in Telangana.

"The 4% Muslim reservation introduced by the preceding Congress government of undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004-05, has so far benefitted nearly 20 lakh poor Muslims in both Telangana and AP. Thousands of poor Muslims, belonging to the BC-E category, are being able to secure admissions in various vocational courses, including those for MBBS and engineering since 2004 due to the policy of reservation implemented by the Congress government. The current CM, on the other hand, has not even fulfilled his promise of enhancing the quota for Muslims in jobs and education to 12%. He is now trying to scuttle the existing 4% Muslim quota by not fighting for it in the Supreme Court," Shabbir Ali charged.

"It is clear to all that the TRS government has been targeting minority institutions since 2014. Almost 70% of the engineering, MBA, MCA and other colleges have been forced to shut down after the TRS came to power. Further, the KCR government has reduced funds allocated for the higher education of minority youth. This proves that KCR is not interested in granting access to higher education to poor Muslim students. He has, therefore, reduced funding for many schemes or has altogether scrapped them in the last seven years," the leader added.

He then appealed to the voters of Nagarjuna Sagar to support Jana Reddy, and said, "Jana Reddy's re-entry into the Assembly will completely change the politics of Telangana. KCR does not even have the guts to face a leader like Jana Reddy. This is why he is spending over Rs 100 crore to ensure that he does not have to encounter the senior leader in the Assembly. I am confident that the people of Nagarjuna Sagar will endorse Jana Reddy for his years of service to the region, and that he will be able to secure a victory with a margin of not less than 50,000 votes."

Apart from Shabbir Ali and Jana Reddy, TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy and other senior Congress leaders also addressed the public meeting.