Why Are BJP, TRS Silent On Unemployment, Asks Uttam

Ahead of the upcoming MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda, the issue of unemployment has become the central theme in the campaigns of the political parties of Telangana. The Congress too has made repeated references to the ruling party's failure to address the problem.

Talking about the matter again today, TPCC head and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy condemned the "stoic silence" being maintained by the leaders of both the TRS and the BJP on the rising unemployment in Telangana, in a campaign meeting.

Reddy alleged that both the parties were indulging in a cheap blame game to divert the attention of the people of the state away from their many failures, and demanded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao break his silence over the unemployment issue.

"Neither the TRS nor the BJP truly cares for the state or its people. Both the governments have been too busy putting up a facade of political rivalry to take away attention from more pressing issues. They have therefore been unable to actually work towards anything productive. Instead of doing all this, the parties' leaders should focus on developing the state. The CM should explain how he proposes to provide employment to nearly 30 lakh unemployed youth. Just as a doctor treats patients till they recover fully, and does not simply wash his hands off after administering an injection or prescribing medicines, the CM must remedy the problem of unemployment, and not cite statistics to escape responsibility," he said.

"The BJP and the TRS have unwittingly exposed their betrayal of Telangana through their exchange of allegations on the sanctioning of the Information Technology Investment Region project, the establishment of the Kazipet railway coach factory, and the implementation of various other projects. Now, they are trying to blame each other to cover up their incompetence. The Congress has always pointed out that the BJP-led Centre has no interest in Telangana's growth. However, KCR went ahead and supported all the "anti-people" policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi more enthusiastically than the BJP's own leaders," the MP added.

Referring to the growth figures published by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, which claimed that the state had registered a rise of 1.35% in its GSDP in the 2020-21 fiscal year, the TPCC head cautioned the TRS government against using inflated figures to portray a "false picture" of economic growth. He said that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the 15th Finance Commission had both revealed in their reports that the TRS regime had committed "deliberate accounting errors to inflate figures of revenue generation and growth".

"Fake claims about the state's economy were used to secure huge loans at high-interest rates from various agencies. Those amounts were utilised on projects which helped the leaders of the TRS get commissions. Over Rs 3 lakh crore has been borrowed so far. This has pushed our state into a huge debt crisis. Now the hard-earned money of thousands of taxpayers will have to be used to pay the exorbitant interests for the loans taken by the CM, for nearly two decades. The KCR regime's flawed economic policies will hit us all," the TPCC head thundered.

He then demanded that the CM present a "realistic budget" for the coming fiscal year, and devise specific solutions to deal with problems like unemployment and budget deficits. Further, he asked KCR to allocate sufficient funds for the implementation of a monthly unemployment dole and for a 43% pay hike for the government employees in the state.

Reddy then turned to the Congress cadres and asked them to meet the voters in the two graduates' constituencies, and seek their support to ensure the victory of the party's candidates G Chinna Reddy and Ramulu Naik.

The leader, accompanied by Ramulu Naik, AICC ST department Vice-Chairman Bellya Naik, DCC head Shankar Naik and others, paid his respects to the mortal remains of army jawan Pagilla Venkanna, who lost his life near Pathankot on the Indo-Pak border, in Miryalaguda.

Reddy also addressed a series of meetings as part of his campaign for the Congress candidate for the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda graduates' constituency, Ramulu Naik.

Later in the day, he addressed a meeting with party workers, and interacted with the advocates of the Miryalguda Court, the rice millers in the area, and a group of Youth Congress workers in Nagarjuna Sagar.