Why Modi failed to deliver Bayyaram steel plant and ITIR, asks Congress

Congress on Wednesday said the Modi government has failed to deliver on the promise of the Bayyaram Steel Plant and ITIR in Telangana. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to Telangana.

"Where is the rail coach factory at Kazipet? Why did the PM fail to deliver the Bayyaram Steel Plant and ITIR? In the absence of a Census or a Caste Census, is the PM’s promise for a Madiga sub-quota just a jumla?" Ramesh asked in a post on X.

Explaining on what he said were "jumla details", Ramesh said, " After repeated flip-flops in the last 10 years, the BJP has failed to establish a rail coach factory at Kazipet. The BJP had committed to establishing this factory in their 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto as well as their 2014 Telangana assembly election manifesto. In December 2022, the Centre clarified again that no plant would be built in Kazipet but later that month, announced that a coach factory would be set up in Assam. Before the Telangana assembly elections last year, the Centre reversed its decision yet again, and the PM laid the foundation stone of a railway wagon overhauling centre in Kazipet. Almost a year later, this plan too has failed to materialise."

The Congress leader also said that plans for the Bayyaram Steel Plant and the Hyderabad Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) have fallen by the wayside during the BJP’s tenure. "The BJP did not hesitate to sweep these projects under the rug. CM Revanth Reddy has also pointed out that at the same time as these projects were being scrapped, massive projects like the bullet train and Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) were given to Gujarat."

Is there no end to the PM’s step-motherly treatment of opposition-ruled states? asked Jairam Ramesh.

Regarding the sub-quota for Madiga community, Ramesh said that the Prime Minister has recently started paying lip service to the cause of the Madiga community and their long-pending demand for a sub-quota. "In fact, the Prime Minister has refused to hold even the usual decadal Census that was due in 2021, which would have yielded information on the population of the Scheduled Castes in Telangana. Can the Prime Minister clarify his stance on the proposal for a caste census? How does he plan to enable sub-quotas for the Madiga community in its absence?" asked the Congress leader.