Directionless Cong., BJP resort to abuse: Harish

Hyderabad: BRS leader and minister T. Harish Rao on Wednesday said opposition parties BJP and Congress, without any agenda of their own for the Telangana Assembly elections, are resorting to abuse, and have joined hands in the state with the only aim of coming to power.

Speaking at a ‘Meet the Press’ organised by the Telangana Union of Working Journalists, Harish Rao said the BRS government had sorted out the drinking water and power supply problems and ensured irrigation for farmers.

“The opposition parties have no issues to talk about and they are resorting to abuse.  Boothulu cheppe nayakulaku prajalu polling booth lo gunapatham cheptharu (leaders who are abusive will be taught a lesson by people at the polling booths). We too can use harsh language but we have a lot to talk to people about what the BRS government has done in the past 10 years,” he said.

To a question on the Congress challenge that their candidates will not contest the polls if the BRS government proves that it is actually supplying power for 24 hours to farmers, Harish Rao said, the question should be whether even a cent of land had gone dry without water. “There could be some localised issues where power supply may not be for 24 hours. But no land has gone dry because of that.

Telangana now produces 3.5 crore tonnes of paddy compared to 80 lakh tonnes in 2014. This is possible because farmers have water for irrigation, and power to run their agricultural pump sets,” he said.

Harish Rao also said that the Congress realised that its so-called Karnataka model has fallen flat on its face with its government there not being able to supply even five hours of power. “Now Revanth Reddy says Karnataka is different and Telangana is different. He and other Congress leaders have stopped talking about Karnataka. Telangana is already number one on many fronts, be it in welfare or development, Harish Rao said.

On allegations by Congress that BRS and BJP were working together, Harish Rao said if it was true, the Governor would not have held back on Bills, or disapproved of MLC candidates recommended by the party. “In three by-polls in the last five years, Congress lost security deposits as it joined hands with the BJP to boost the latter against BRS. We are a secular party. The reality is that the two national parties joined hands to defeat KCR, the Son of Telangana,” he said.

On jobs, Harish Rao said the BRS government filled 1.32 lakh vacancies in its first term and targeted 80,000 in its second. But two years of COVID and waiting for one and a half years for the Centre to approve the state’s decision by amending Presidential Orders to ensure 96 per cent of jobs for locals, led to some delays. He also admitted that the TSPSC question paper leak was a mistake and that those responsible have been arrested. “After we return to power we will introduce a job calendar and every position that becomes available will be filled in a time-bound manner,” he added.

In addition to jobs in the government, the state saw 24 lakh jobs in various industries, and another 6 lakh jobs in the IT sector, he said.