Will Not Contest For MLC Seats If TRS Gives 45% Fitment: Sravan

AICC national spokesperson Dasoju Sravan today made quite the splash when he announced that if Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao introduced a revised fitment of 45% for all the employees in Telangana, the Congress would not contest in the upcoming MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam and Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy.

Speaking at a media event in the Gandhi Bhavan, he assured the TRS supremo that if such an announcement was made, the Congress' candidates for the two posts, Ramulu Naik and G Chinna Reddy respectively, would not ask the graduates and the employees of the state for votes.

The senior leader however was quick to add that the CM would have to immediately announce the pay hike and issue a government order regarding the implementation of the same to get the Congress to drop out of the race for the two seats.

Of course, the leader, who has never minced his acerbic words against the TRS, did not pass up the chance to flay the pink party, and slammed party head KCR for "deliberately leaking" the reported hike in the fitment rate ahead of the elections. He also ridiculed the PRC as a "worthless proposal", and urged the employees not to fall into the TRS' "trap" again.

"Remember that the fitment is not a gift given by the government, it is a fundamental right. You must fight the TRS government to get the fitment you deserve especially since the ruling party has never truly been employee-friendly. In fact, CM KCR has even insulted the government employees of the state in the past by comparing them with the tail of a dog. Of course, now he is trying to woo the same tail for votes. The promised 29% pay hike is just a means to garner support by undercutting the 27% fitment offered by Andhra Pradesh. What the CM does not realise is that Telangana is a state that is richer than AP. So, while AP's 27% is a fair amount, Telangana's 29% is far too low. Moreover, the government must not treat the fitment as an act of benevolence - it is a legitimate right of all employees," Sravan said.

The AICC spokesperson slammed the Biswal Commission for its "snail-paced" work on the PRC, and said that the committee that had been formed in 2018 had managed to give its first report only in 2021.

"Is the TRS ready to finally make good on its promises? Will it release a revised PRC? Will it actually finally introduce an unemployment dole? Or will KCR's promises continue to be like bubbles on the surface of water - transient and illusory? I would appeal to the graduates and the employees not to get taken in by the ruling party's election-time theatrics. Let the TRS taste defeat so it can snap out of its insularity. The sky will not crumble if Rajeshwar Reddy and Vani Devi are defeated. KCR will still enjoy his authority as CM. However, the defeat may prompt him to fulfil his promises to the people of the state," he claimed.

Listing the other unkept promises of the pink party, including those relating to employment generation, the leader then asked IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao to stop telling "lies" about job recruitment using "fabricated statistics", and alleged that the latter's "false promises" had led many unemployed people in the state to commit suicide.

"Ankam Buchiraju and N Narsaiah, both artisans in the state electricity department, committed suicide as their contracts were not regularised. If KTR's claim that the contracts of 22,637 artisans were regularised is true, why are so many of them committing suicide? Who is responsible for their deaths? These lies show that KTR is no better than Goebbels - always spreading pro-TRS propaganda," he charged.

Saying that his party would continue to fight for the people even after the elections, Sravan once again appealed to the voters to support the two Congress candidates in the upcoming MLC elections.