Kalvakuntla sibling affection to the fore

NIZAMABAD: It was praise-all for the Kalvakuntla siblings in Armoor on Thursday, at a public meeting in which Minister K.T. Rama Rao and PM K. Kavitha shared the dais for the very first time. While proclaiming that Mr Rama Rao was a man of affect, Ms Kavitha said that she was proud to have him as her brother: “He is not only a brother of mine, he will serve the women of the state as brother,” she said.

Mr Rama Rao reacted by praising Ms Kavitha’s oratory skills, especially when she spoke in Parliament. “A Union minister asked me how our father trained us both to develop different skills,” he said.  “We becoming leaders with the spirit of Telangana movement and blessings of the people,” he said. Mr Rao said that though Ms Kavitha was younger than him, he was hesitant to address her by her name, instead preferring to use the term “MP garu”.

Interestingly, during his speech, the minister came down heavily on the Opposition Congress and TD, but spared the BJP. He called upon the people to wipe out the Congress from TS “for its over 50 years of misrule”. “TRS government is just 33 months old, how can Congress leaders criticise its rule when they are responsible for all miseries of both the country and the state,” Mr Rama Rao said.

He said that the newly-elected BJP government in UP was adopting the policies of the TRS government, including the crop loan waiver scheme and “anti-Romeo” squads. “KCR is giving utmost importance to welfare schemes like subsidised rice, Kalyana Lakshmi /Shaadi Mubarak, pensions, KCR kits for newborns, financial aid for pregnant women etc.,” the minister said. Mr Rama Rao said that the TRS was only party to protect the interests of Telangana people, whereas the Congress and TD were controlled by high commands in Delhi and Amaravati.

Ms Kavitha said that except for Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand states had faced political instability immediately after they were formed. “We proved the claims of our political rivals that there would be power shortage, increased Naxal presence political instability after formation of Telangana state wrong,” she said. Armoor MLA A. Jeevan Reddy presided over the meeting. Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, MPs B.B. Patil and D. Srinivas, Government Whip Gampa Govardhan, Mission Bhagiratha vice-chairman V. Prashanth Reddy, MLAs, MLCs and TRS leaders were among those present.