KTR sees silent wave for BRS' win

Hyderabad: BRS working president and IT minister K.T.Rama Rao on Wednesday said that there is a 'silent wave' in favour of the BRS in Telangana and the party is poised to win more seats than it had won in the 2018 Assembly polls.

In an informal chat with media persons at Telangana Bhavan here on Wednesday, Rama Rao said that the BRS is going to win Goshamahal, Huzurnagar, Mulugu, LB Nagar and Maheshwaram seats which it had lost in 2018. In the 2018 Assembly polls, TRS (now BRS) won 88 seats and this time Rama Rao predicted that it would get 90-plus seats.

"I have toured extensively across the state for the past two months for campaigning. I participated in 70 roadshows and addressed 30 public meetings covering 100 constituencies. I noticed a silent wave in favour of the BRS during my campaigning. People have made up their minds to vote for the BRS to give a third term to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and the BRS government. The results on December 3 will be a big shocker for opposition parties as the BRS will win 90-plus seats," Rama Rao said.

He dismissed reports and surveys indicating a 'Congress wave' in Telangana saying that it was a 'mere hype created' by Congress leaders, poll strategists, and social media platforms.

Rama Rao said that as per their ground reports, TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy is going to lose from both Kodangal and Kamareddy seats and BJP leader Etala Rajender in Gajwel and Huzurabad.

"The ground reality is entirely different which I had noticed during campaigning. People, especially farmers, women, and senior citizens are in favour of the BRS. There was some discontentment among students and youth on the issue of government job creation and job notifications. But we have reached out to them and explained how the BRS government will address these issues soon after returning to power. They were convinced and there is not much discontentment among them now," Rama Rao said.

Referring to the party's booth-level committee reports gathered from all the districts, Rama Rao said that the BRS is going to make a clean sweep under HMDA limits where there are a total of 29 seats. "Leaving seven AIMIM-dominated seats in Hyderabad, the BRS is going to bag all the remaining seats under HMDA limits," he added.

Accusing the Congress and the BJP of entering into 'tactic understanding' to defeat the BRS in a few constituencies, Rama Rao asked, "Why Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Revanth Reddy did not campaign in Goshamahal? They campaigned in Nampally but ignored Goshamahal which is adjacent to it. The Congress has also fielded dummy candidates in Goshamahal, Karimnagar, and Korutla to benefit the BJP. This proves the secret friendship between Congress and the BJP. They adopted the same policy in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by transferring Congress votes to BJP to defeat BRS candidates in Nizamabad and Karimnagar."

Commenting about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, CMs of BJP-ruled states, Union ministers, and several BJP leaders camping and campaigning in Telangana for several days, Rama Rao said, "PM Modi and BJP leaders campaigning in Telangana was aimed at Lok Sabha polls in 2024 and not Telangana Assembly polls. The BJP is already out of the electoral battle in Telangana. They lost deposits in 108 seats in 2018 Assembly polls and this time they will lose deposits in 110 seats."

He held the Congress responsible for stopping the Rtyhu Bandhu scheme. "If Minister Harish Rao's comments were the reason for the EC stopping Rythu Bandhu, the EC should have initiated action against Harish Rao. How can they stop the Rythu Bandhu scheme?" he asked.

He questioned why the Election Commission did not stop the Centre's PM-Kisan scheme in Telangana and other election-bound states and alleged that this shows the EC was 'biased' towards the BJP.

Responding to the statement of Congress leaders Revanth Reddy and Komareddy Venkatreddy on 24-hour power supply not being provided in Telangana, Rama Rao stated that the Congress leaders could hold any power cables across Telangana and check for themselves if 24-hour power supply was being provided or not.

Referring to Revanth Reddy’s statement that a three-hour power supply was sufficient for the farmers in Telangana to irrigate an acre of land if they have a 10hp pump set. Rama Rao said there are nearly 30 lakh pumpsets in Telangana which are mostly of 3hp and at the most 5hp capacity. He said Telangana farmers would incur expenditure of thousands of crores to replace pump sets and asked who would bear those expenses.

Rama Rao stated that keeping all these factors in mind, he has given a slogan to farmers during campaigning which says “Current Kavala-Congress Kavala” (whether farmers want current or Congress).

The Congress track record proves that whenever there was a Congress government in the state, there was no power. “The Congress and the current are two different things. If the Congress is there, there will be no power and if power is there, there will be no Congress.”

Rama Rao said the BRS’ manifesto has evoked an overwhelming response from the people and it will ensure a thumping victory for BRS in Assembly polls.

He said the BRS promise of a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000 per eligible woman under the Saubhagya Laxmi scheme, an increase in Asara pension money to Rs 5, 000, superfine rice supply to all ration card holders under the Telangana Annapurna scheme, Life insurance cover of Rs 5 lakhs to over 93 lakhs below poverty line (BPL) families on the lines of Rythu Bima being implemented to farmers and gas cylinder for Rs. 400 was being welcomed by all sections.

When asked about the BRS government’s failure to fill up government job vacancies in the last nine years, Rama Rao challenged Congress and BJP to show at least one state ruled by them that has filled more job vacancies than the BRS government.

“The BRS government released job notifications for 2,02,735 jobs in the last nine years and has already filled 1,60,083 posts. I am ready to send complete data on jobs to the Congress and the BJP. We have already kept these details online by launching a website. I challenge the Congress, the BJP, or anyone to prove this wrong if they have guts,” Rama Rao remarked.