Nizamabad: Veteran Congress leader T. Jeevan Reddy, who is in the fray for the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat, opines that the downfall of the BJP, which is hoping to win elections with loads of ‘lies’, has begun.
The Congress has been a crusader of reservations, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi rendered injustice to the SC, ST and OBC communities by providing economic backward classes (EBC) reservations, he opines.
The socially and economically backward classes lost 10 percent reservations due to EBC as the open competition quota was reduced, he explains in an interview with Deccan Chronicle.
Excerpts:
At 73, how equipped are you to cope with the technology-driven elections?
From top to bottom, all Congress leaders and workers are striving for my victory in the elections. My commitment, service orientation and accessibility would definitely come in handy and help me win. The social fabric of the Congress will bolster my prospects further as it would of party candidates across the country.
Of the seven Assembly segments in the Nizamabad constituency, the Congress has only two. From where do you expect support?
Such calculations and pretentions hold no water. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s Dharmapuri Arvind won the Sabha seat without a single BJP MLA. The Congress government in the state and the image of the party will boost my winning chances. Then there is my own clean and performance-oriented record to tilt he verdict my way.
What are your major promises?
I will strive for the Smart City project for Nizamabad, which is the third biggest city in Telangana state. A passport seva kendra, ESI Hospital at Jagtial, train connectivity from Karimnagar to Tirupati via Nizamabad, new Armoor-Adilabad and Bodhan-Bidar railway lines will be taken up. I will fight for the revival of the `1,000-crore Nizam Sugar Factory, which is certain to benefit farmers in Nizamabad, Jagtial and Medak district.
To what extent is the Congress banking on the Muslim vote?
The Congress provided reservations to Muslims on an economically backward basis and not on religious grounds. The BJP is misleading the people over reservations to Muslims. It has joined hands with the Telugu Desam in Andhra Pradesh, where four per cent reservations are assured for Muslims. ‘God is in temples and faith is in the heart’ is the slogan of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. We all will follow it.
You are called an outsider in Nizamabad, which you never visited as MLC.
It’s absolutely wrong. Jagtial gave me political birth and it comes under Nizamabad parliamentary constituency. I opted for Nizamabad rather than Karimnagar to serve people in my native place. As an MLC, I took part in several programmes in Nizamabad, while Arvind failed to visit. People are waiting to defeat him as he has proved to be worse than his predecessor Kalvakuntla Kavitha.
What is your appeal to the voters?
People should be cautious when they are provoked on religious grounds. Development and an all-encompassing secular approach are paramount.
