Opposition distorts facts, TRS leaders tell partymen

Hyderabad: TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao says that Congress leaders are unable to digest the development and welfare programmes of the Chandrasekhar Rao government and are making baseless allegation of corruption. He was addressing party activists after about 8,000 supporters were given party membership at the Kotla Vijaya-bhaskar Reddy stadium on Tuesday.

Mr Rama Rao said that state government would fulfil all the promises made to the people of Hyderabad.

Stating that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s government had been hailed by many states, he ridiculed Congress leaders saying, “No one knows what they are doing, who their national president is. They are making the same allegations since the last five years. Think about your own party and why leaders are leaving it.”

Appealing to activists not to take the criticism of opposition leaders seriously, he referred to the comments of BJP leaders and said that some people who were claiming to be an alternative to the TRS should know that government was spending Rs 1,200 crore on social welfare pensions whereas the Centre was only giving Rs 200 crore.

Elsewhere, social welfare minister K. Eash-war, MLAs Nomula Narasimhaiah, Koru-kanti Chander and MLC N. Lakshman Rao slammed Congress leaders, stating that they had been distorting facts with regard to the Kaleshwaram project. The minister said that they could not understand why Congress leaders visited Tummi-dihatti. Had they forgotten what the Central Water Commission said about availability of water there, and the objections raised by the Maharashtra government, he asked.

The TRS leaders said that after the TRS came into power, Mr Chandra-sekhar Rao had taken the initiative and convinced the Maharashtra government to construct the Kaleshwaram scheme at Medigadda where 284 tmc ft water is available, redesigned the project and succeeded in completing it in record time. They said that with completion of the Kaleshwaram project, 144 tmc ft of water could be stored for a year to cater to irrigation, drinking and industrial needs.

Mr B. Vinod Kumar, vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission, also ridiculed the Congress leaders’ visit to Tummidihatti in a press note. While forwarding copies of the detailed project report of Kaleshwaram, he said that only 17 tmc ft of water was available in the Sriramsagar project whereas Kaleshwa-ram had 100 tmc ft of water.