HYDERABAD: IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday hit back at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi over his claims, made at public meetings at Adilabad and Sadashivpet in the past three days, that the BRS government was not releasing funds meant for Muslims’ welfare schemes.
“Owaisi praises the BRS government's welfare schemes and development programmes in other states. I have seen videos in which Owaisi was seen praising the Telangana government's minority welfare schemes while addressing meetings in Uttar Pradesh. Now, he says there is no proper minority welfare in Telangana. What to believe? Which Owaisi is correct? Owaisi in Uttar Pradesh? Or Owaisi in Telangana?” he said.
Referring to reports that AIMIM is planning to contest Assembly elections in Telangana beyond Hyderabad, Rama Rao said, “Why should we bother about it? It's an independent party. They can contest anywhere. As the president of AIMIM, it's up to Asad to take a call on how many seats they should contest.”
Rama Rao also hinted that the party does not plan to take part in an anti-BJP alliance for the sake of dethroning BJP at the Centre, when questioned on reports of attempts being made by leaders of a few regional parties, such as Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, to unite non-BJP parties to take on the incumbent in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Rama Rao said, “We do not subscribe to such views. Uniting just for the sake of dethroning PM Modi or someone from power will not work. We don't believe that an alliance of Opposition parties based on hatred or opposition against one party or one person will work. The slogan for Opposition unity should not be dethroning someone from power, but it should be better governance.”
He said that BRS chief and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has been attempting to unite the people of the country by promising to implement the ‘Telangana model’ of welfare schemes and developmental programmes, if voted to power.
“We are not attempting to unite political parties against someone but we are trying to offer an alternative model for better governance. BRS stepped up activities in Maharashtra. Recently, we started off in Madhya Pradesh. We will expand to few more states showcasing Telangana model,” Rama Rao said.
