Congress will not welcome deserters, says Digvijay Singh

Hyderabad: AICC general-secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said here that the Congress will not allow those leaders who left the party when it was facing critical times and joined the TRS for political benefits.

Addressing a TPCC meeting organised in connection with the 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar at a private function hall here, Mr Singh expressed confidence that Congress will bounce back to power in the 2019 elections owing to failures of TRS government that only makes promises without bothering to implement them.

“I knew some of leaders left us and joined the TRS only for the sake of posts. I am telling you all today that we won’t allow these leaders to rejoin the Congress at any cost,” the party’s general-secretary said.

Other leaders who addressed the gathering strongly criticised both the NDA government headed by Narendra Modi and the TRS government led by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for not implementing the Sub-Plan earmarked for SCs and failure to fulfil several promises given to Dalits, including providing three acres of farm land to each Dalit family.

Mr Singh said both the BJP and RSS, who have been known for their anti-Dalit stance through their political history, were now trying to woo the Dalits by announcing a few schemes.

He said it has been the Congress tradition of working  to uplift Dalits, minorities and the weaker sections of the society and it never went back on its promises.

Contrary to the Congress tradition, the present Narendra Modi government has made it a point to divide the society in the name of caste and creed with the view to suppress the Dalit community in the country, he said.

Reminding the TRS president of his promise to make a Dalit the first Chief Minister of Telangana, former union minister S. Jaipal Reddy asked Mr Chandrasekhar Rao what happened to his promise made before the elections.
He said that just setting up a 125-feet tall Ambedkar statue would not undo the injustices done by the TRS government all these months.

TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, AICC SC Cell convener Koppula Raju and other leaders also spoke.