Hyderabad: TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday dismissed the possibility of a hung Assembly in Telangana after the elections, exuding confidence that the Congress would get a decisive mandate with 80 to 85 seats.
“The Congress will comfortably form the government with 80 to 85 seats and there is no question of hung Assembly,” he said at a ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by Telangana Journalists’ Adhyayana Vedikahere.
“In the 2018 elections, the BJP lost its deposit in 105 Assembly constituencies and this time, it will lose out in five more constituencies. In 2014, the BRS formed the government despite getting just 34 per cent of votes. We are getting 40 to 45 per cent votes this time. Thus, there is no question of hung Assembly,” he said, in response to a question.
Contending that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s body language in his speeches gave away his lack of confidence, Revanth Reddy credited the Congress for starting free power supply to farmers and said Congress “owns the patent of free power”, when questioned about it.
Challenging Chandrashekar Rao to accompany him to any electrical substation in Gajwel, Siddipet, Sircilla, or Suryapet to prove his claims of 24-hour power, Revanth Reddy said: “The BRS government was getting power from the Congress-ruled state of Chhattisgarh.”
Asked about the Congress’s chief ministerial face, he said the high command would decide after consulting the elected MLAs.
“The swearing-in ceremony would be conducted on December 9 at LB Stadium and, by 12 noon, the gates of the Pragathi Bhavan, which will be renamed Dr B.R. Ambedkar Praja Bhavan, will be open for people to submit their complaints,” he said, citing Sonia Gandhi’s birthday and date of carving out Telangana as the reason for swearing-in.
When questioned how the Congress intended to implement its promises, resource-wise, he said: “If we control the corruption then we will be able to implement the promises.”
Calling on the public to impose a “social boycott” of Chandrashekar Rao’s family, Revanth Reddy said the party raised costs for the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, the new Secretariat and Martyr’s Memorial. “A comprehensive probe would be ordered into the KLIS lapses,” he said.
Terming the Dharani portal as a business tool used by the BRS, the TPCC chief promised to do away with it. “Acres given to the poor by the Congress were taken over by the state government through the portal, rendering people landless. SCs and STs were affected a lot because of it,” he said.
He also said that the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) would be scrapped immediately and a comprehensive probe would be ordered into irregularities if the Congress is voted to power, adding the Congress would fill two lakh job vacancies, apart from filling up additional posts, by December 2024.
When questioned about the BJP’s assurance to form a committee to consider the demand for sub-categorisation of SCs, he said: “Let Chandrashekhar Rao lead an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to bring in an Ordinance and pass it during the Parliament session commencing on December 4.”
On the promise of a uniform civil code (UCC) by the BJP, Revanth Reddy said the BJP made several promises, including retrieving money from ‘Swiss banks’ and providing jobs to youths before coming to power in 2014. “The BJP ignored the promises and the same is the case with UCC,” he said.
Asked why MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi described him as an RSS agent, he sought to know why the MIM failed to field a candidate against BJP MLA T. Raja Singh in the Goshamahal Assembly constituency.
Revanth Reddy, however, said the Congress would never indulge in ‘revenge politics’ and said that the law would take its course.
