TPCC President and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today exhorted the people of the state to question the leaders of the TRS and the BJP on the "non-fulfilment" of the election-time promises made by the two parties.
Addressing a series of meetings as part of the Congress' campaign for the upcoming MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda, Reddy alleged that neither the TRS-led state government nor the BJP-led Centre had bothered to deliver on the promises they made to the people in their previous election manifestos.
"Instead of coming up with a progress report for the last seven years, the leaders of the TRS and the BJP are now coming up with a list of new promises, and have resorted to shamelessly blaming each other for their failure to deliver on earlier promises. The people of the state have every right to question the leaders of both the ruling parties for their non-performance. The two parties need to realise that they are accountable to the people. They must be questioned for every failure. This will only be possible if the Congress candidates standing in the MLC elections win," he claimed.
During a meeting at the Kakatiya University, the Congress leader, along with party candidate for the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda MLC seat Ramulu Naik, interacted with a group of students.
Recalling the pivotal role played by the students of the university in the Telangana agitation, he reminded the current student body that "none of the students, who made huge sacrifices and risked their careers for the creation of Telangana, have benefitted in any way from its formation".
"It is not those who fought for the creation of our state who benefited from it. Only the family of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did. The CM and his family looted the state and reaped the benefits of its creation. The TRS government did not even honour the students' contribution to the statehood movement enough to withdraw the cases registered against them during the agitation in a timely manner. This had a direct impact on their livelihoods. It prevented tens of thousands of students from applying for government jobs. Further, the government did not provide any special exemptions to the agitators during subsequent recruitment drives. Since he came to power, KCR has only neglected the students and the education sector of the state," the MP said.
"Under the KCR regime, there have been huge cuts in the overall budget of the education sector. Employment rates in the field have also plummeted - not a single teacher or non-teaching staff was appointed in any educational institutions in the state in the last seven years. Consequently, there are hundreds of vacant positions across educational institutions in Telangana. Barely any of our universities even have full-time Vice Chancellors. With no funds and no faculty, the quality of education in the state has taken a serious hit. The intake in both vocational and non-vocational courses has also dropped due to such negligence," he added.
Reddy, who has been very vocal about
his suspicions regarding the TRS' involvement in the
murder of two advocates in Peddapalli, later met a group of advocates at the District Court of Warangal.
There, he discussed the various problems being faced by the lawyer community in Telangana, and also slammed the TRS regime for neglecting the welfare of the advocates by not releasing the funds allocated for their welfare.
"The lawyers of the state have been ignored by KCR and his colleagues. Very valid demands, including the introduction of insurance coverage worth Rs 50 lakh, the introduction of a monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 for junior advocates, the modernisation of libraries, and the provision of health cards to advocates and their family members, also remain unimplemented. The government's most serious mistake, however, has been its disinterest in ensuring the safety of lawyers. The cold-blooded murder of lawyer couple Gattu Vaman Rao and P V Nagamani, which took place on February 17, in Peddapalli, is proof enough of this," the TPCC head asserted.
Talking about the brutal murder, he said that the CM had been remiss in his duties by not issuing a statement condemning the incident, and claimed, "The CM has not even bothered to issue a statement condemning the Peddapalli murders. Further, a few police officials, who are close to the CM and his party, are trying to hush up the case as those responsible for the attack belong to the TRS. This is why there is a need to launch a court-monitored
CBI enquiry into the matter. Further, the incident should be a lesson to the government, and an Advocates' Protection Act must be implemented in the state at the earliest."
He then flayed the BJP for also deserting the people of the state, and of attempting to use religious politics to wrest power and popularity. The MIM too could not escape his scathing criticism.
"Both the BJP and the MIM use religious issues to gain support. As part of these paltry attempts, state BJP head Bandi Sanjay Kumar often makes a great song and dance about his visits to the Bhagya Lakshmi temple at Charminar so that he can derive political mileage from its location. But he has never once spoken about the Nalla Pochamma temple that was demolished to make way for the new Secretariat. Similarly, MIM head Asaduddin Owaisi talks about the Babri Masjid demolition incident, but has been defending the CM for
demolishing two mosques on the Secretariat's premises. This clearly shows that both the BJP and the MIM are using religion only for political gains. The two parties however play no role in bringing meaningful development to the state. The BJP-led Centre, for instance, has not fulfilled the promises made to the state in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, and has not established the railway coach factory at Kazipet. It has deprived the youth of the state of good jobs," the MP charged.
Later, the TPCC head, along with Ramulu Naik and other party leaders, also addressed a meeting at the INTUC office in Warangal.
Reddy and his colleagues in the Congress seem to be determined to stage a comeback and to resurrect their party in the upcoming MLC elections. They have been
actively involved in the campaign for the same. The elections that have catalysed so much activity in the state's political arena will be held on March 14