Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao cautioned people on Wednesday against believing the false and misleading promises of the Congress and the BJP. While addressing a public meeting in Medak, he urged people to be vigilant and exercise their vote carefully in the upcoming Assembly elections. He made an appeal to the voters to revisit past performances of all the political parties in the fray and figure out the truth and the false claims.
He advised them to analyse the situation in Telangana ten years ago and compare it to the present day. This marked the first public meeting addressed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief after announcing candidates for 115 out of the 119 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.
KCR appealed to the people to continue their support for the BRS, enabling the state to progress on the path of development and prosperity. He ridiculed Congress's plea to the people for a chance of leadership change and reminded them that they have entrusted Congress with power for 50 years.
He also lashed out at the BJP saying the party was insisting on installation of meters for the power supplied to farmers while the Congress will only supply power for three hours. KCR claimed that Telangana lost Rs 25,000 crore because his government refused to accept the condition set by the BJP government at the Centre, which required meters to be fixed to agricultural pump sets.
"I clearly conveyed that I will not accept this, even at the cost of my life," he asserted.
Criticizing the Congress Party, he highlighted that while they made many promises during the recent elections in Karnataka, they failed to fulfill them after coming to power.
KCR noted that farmers in Karnataka receive only seven hours of power supply. He asserted that Telangana is the sole state in the country that supplies free power to farmers 24 hours a day.
The chief minister said, “They (the Congress) are barely delivering seven hours of electricity to farmers while Telangana was supplying uninterrupted power for 24 hours. Do we need such a situation over here?”
The government doesn't inquire about the amount of water farmers are utilising or the horsepower of the motors they employ.
He claimed that earlier Medak town used to get drinking water once in three-four days, but now due to Mission Bhagiratha launched by the BRS Government, they get water every day. He mentioned that 1.03 crore households in Telangana have obtained drinking water connections under Mission Bhagiratha and questioned why Congress never considered this initiative.
Pointing out the distress in agriculture before the formation of Telangana state, he claimed that projects like Kaleshwaram improved irrigation facilities, propelling the state to surpass Punjab in paddy production.
"Presently, there are no farmer suicides in Telangana. Villages are thriving, with people building houses. I have been informed that some villages have as many as 30 to 40 and even 60 to 70 cars each," he shared.
KCR asked the people whether they would permit the progress achieved over the past nine years to be undermined by giving power to parties that have proven inefficacious and failed to fulfill past promises.
He contended that Telangana has evolved into a model state with several welfare schemes for farmers. Referring to the Rythu Bima scheme, he stated that Rs 5 lakh is provided to the family of a deceased farmer, regardless of the cause of death.
"This scheme is absent not only in the US, UK, or any other country, but also in any other state in India," he asserted.
He criticised the Congress Party for its pledge to eliminate the Dharani, the digital portal for land records, alleging that it seeks to reintroduce corruption and the middleman system in land registration.
He reiterated that it is due to Dharani that money is promptly credited to farmers' bank accounts under Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima.
Regarding Congress's promise to increase the social security pension to Rs 4,000, KCR urged people to consider whether a party that previously provided only Rs 200 as pension will fulfill this commitment.
He highlighted that it was the BRS that increased the pension to Rs 2,000 and assured the people that it would gradually be raised with the growth of the state's revenue.