Hyderabad: Taking exception to the response of BRS leaders to Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Khammam on Sunday, Congress leader T. Jeevan Reddy questioned why the BRS leaders were opposing welfare measures, while former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s speech rattled the BRS.
MLC Jeevan Reddy said: “The BRS leaders are calling Rahul Gandhi names. What is their objection to the welfare measures announced? The welfare has to be in tune with the inflation and is akin to the rise in salary for job-holding employees. If they question who Rahul is, my query to them is ‘who are they?’”
“The BRS stood by the BJP from 2014 until 2020 and supported all the Bills submitted in Parliament. When Modi visited earlier, instead of seeking a national project status for Kaleshwaram, KCR said he only needs their blessings to hide their misdoing in the project. The party did not seek the promised tribal university, railway coach factory or iron and steel plant in Bayyaram,” he said.
Reddy also alleged that Kalvakuntla Kavitha was not arrested in the Delhi liquor scam as part of an understanding between the BRS and BJP.
“People are looking for change. Electoral promises are made taking into account local resources. The BRS might copy our promise and increase the pension to the promised Rs 4,016 before the polls. We won the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka polls under the same leader, Rahul,” he said.
Meanwhile, TPCC political affairs committee (PAC) convener Mohammed Ali Shabbir claimed that the speech delivered by Rahul Gandhi during the Telangana Jana Garjana Sabha in Khammam left leaders of the ruling BRS in a state of fear.
In a media statement on Monday, Shabbir Ali said that Rahul Gandhi's campaign in Karnataka had effectively exposed the corruption of the BJP government in that state, ultimately leading to its downfall. He claimed that BRS leaders are now apprehensive of facing similar consequences in Telangana.
Shabbir Ali said that the fear of the Congress leader’s influence compelled minister Harish Rao and other BRS leaders to watch the speech live, while claiming that their prompt reaction demonstrated the significance they attribute to Rahul Gandhi's words.
Shabbir Ali criticised Harish Rao for his claims about the Congress, pointing out that it was the same Congress that provided a political identity to the TRS by forging an alliance in the 2004 elections.
“As part of that alliance, TRS received 42 MLA seats and six MP seats, and Harish Rao himself served as a Cabinet member in the Dr Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy government,” he said.
One of the key issues raised by Rahul Gandhi during his speech was the alleged Kaleshwaram project scam.
Shabbir Ali noted that Harish Rao, being the irrigation minister, appeared particularly fearful as the project was under his purview. He criticised the TRS government for escalating the project's cost from approximately '30,000 crore to nearly Rs 1,40,000 crore.
“Let BRS govt come up with a white paper on Kaleshwaram Project, giving details of when the detailed project report was prepared and when it was approved and also explain when and why the project cost was escalated. It should explain how it plans to repay the loans of over '87,000 crore it borrowed in the name of Kaleshwaram project,” he said.
“The success of the ‘Telangana Jana Garjana’ in Khammam has sent shockwaves among BRS leaders. They are now expected to resort to various tactics in an attempt to regain public attention,” he said.
