Hyderabad, April 21 (IANS) Amid the scorching summer heat gripping Telangana, a bitter war of words between Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Leader of Opposition K. Chandrasekhar Rao have generated political heat.
At separate public meetings on Monday night, the two leaders exchanged barbs and threw challenges at each other.
Addressing a public meeting at Jagtial, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President and former Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) exuded confidence that his party will storm back to power and promised that scrapping the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) will be the first file to be signed then.
The public meeting was organised by the BRS to welcome former minister T. Jeevan Reddy into the party fold. KCR used the occasion to announce that he is appointing Jeevan Reddy, who recently quit Congress, as the General Secretary of the BRS.
While KCR claimed that the victory march of the BRS would begin from Jagtial, Revanth Reddy vowed to “bury” both the BRS and KCR “100 metres deep” in Jagtial in the next elections.
Revanth Reddy also threw a challenge that if he fails to strip KCR of the post of Leader of Opposition in the next elections, he would change his name.
Asking KCR to be ready to get crushed in the next election, the Chief Minister, addressing a public meeting in Nasturapally in Karimnagar district after a visit to Medigadda barrage, a part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, asserted that the Congress government will return to power with over 100 seats in the 2029 elections.
If the public meeting at Jagtial was a show of strength by the BRS, which hopes that Jeevan Reddy’s joining the party will trigger a return exodus from Congress, the Chief Minister’s public meeting and his visit to Medigadda barrage were aimed at highlighting the alleged corruption in the Kaleshwaram project built during the BRS rule.
Revanth Reddy remarked that it would be no sin even if KCR was “hanged to death” for wasting Rs 1 lakh crore of public money on the Kaleshwaram project, which collapsed within three years of its inauguration. The Chief Minister also stated that if it were in the earlier times, like during the Nizam era, KCR would have been hanged for the Kaleshwaram scam.
“Since we have a democratic system governed by the rule of law, the state government decided to entrust the case to the CBI,” he said and slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for not ordering the CBI probe despite the state government’s request.
He declared that the state government will not spare those responsible persons for the “unbridled multi-crore corruption” in the construction of Kaleshwaram.
He also announced that the state government would move forward with necessary strategic plans if the BRS tried to use the BJP as a shield to escape corruption charges.
He claimed that knowing that an inquiry into the Kalaleshwaram project is likely to be ordered, BRS leader T. Harish Rao rushed to Delhi to plead with BJP leaders.
The Chief Minister’s remarks came just two days before the Telangana High Court is set to pronounce its orders on the batch of writ petitions filed separately by KCR, Harish Rao and two others seeking a direction to set aside and quash the report of the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission, which enquired into alleged irregularities in the execution of the Kaleshwaram project
At the Jagtial public meeting, KCR not only targeted the Congress government for its ‘chaotic rule’ but also exuded confidence that the BRS would return to power.
He gave a call for launching another movement to root out the Congress government and restore the glory of Telangana.
Making a public appearance after a long political lull, KCR exhibited his trademark aggression and punch during the speech, lashing out at Revanth Reddy for his repeated wishes for his death. He stated that, notwithstanding their wishes, he will continue serving the people of Telangana until his last breath. “Even if I have to be reborn a thousand times, I will continue to fight for Telangana. Even if they take a hundred births, they cannot separate me from the people,” he said.
He also targeted the Congress government for creating HYDRAA for what he called demolishing the houses of the poor. Stating that the agency symbolised administrative excess, he announced that it would be thrown out “lock, stock and barrel” immediately once the BRS returns to power.
The BRS chief launched a scathing attack on the Congress for what he called its failure to deliver on the Six Guarantees and over 420 promises made in the 2023 elections.
KCR claimed that no section of people is happy with the Congress government, which, he said, failed to launch a single new scheme.
–IANS
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