Ironically, Revanth Reddy as CM has signed MoUs with Adani Group during his Davos visit for ₹12,500 crore investments in Telangana.
Published Aug 22, 2024 | 6:42 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 22, 2024 | 6:42 PM
CM Revanth Reddy speaks at the protest against Adani. (INCTelangana/X)
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday, 22 August said that the Congress is determined to expose how the wealth of the nation is being looted by “Adani-Pradhani.”
Addressing the Congress demonstrators at a dharna in front of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Hyderabad, the chief minister turned the heat not only on industrialist Gautam Adani — Chairman of Adani Group — but also on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and industrialist Ambani.
Ironically, Revanth Reddy had signed MoUs with Adani Group during his Davos visit for ₹12,500 crore investments in Telangana.
Calling them the “gang of four” he alleged that they were looting the nation and that it is the responsibility of the Congress workers to see that those who plunder the nation go to jail.
The chief minister said that when Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi raised his voice against Adani, the prime minister fled the Parliament because Modi never wanted anyone to talk ill of Adani.
“That is why the party has given an all-India call to wash this dirty linen in the public and expose how the wealth of the nation is being looted,” he said.
On Thursday, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) joined the grand old party in other states by staging a protest in front of the ED office in Hyderabad, demanding the institution of a joint parliamentary probe into the Hindenburg report against Adani and SEBI.
Revanth Reddy joined the protestors at about 1.30 pm at the ED’s office on Fateh Maidan Road in Hyderabad and raised slogans with others against the alleged nexus between the SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and Adani.
The Congress protestors first gathered at the Gun Park in front of the Telangana Assembly at about 10 am, and from there reached the ED’s office in a procession.
State ministers and other Congress leaders took part in Dharna where they took the BJP dispensation to task for not acting against Adani and not sacking SEBI chairperson.
The chief minister demanded that Madhabi Puri Buch should resign immediately. “If she does not step down, the centre should sack her immediately” Revanth Reddy said and demanded that the ED should immediately commence an investigation into the scam.
The chief minister accused the prime minister of doing incalculable harm to the country by going in for borrowings left, right and centre.
He claimed that if all the prime ministers till 2014 since India became independent in 1947 borrowed ₹55,000 crore, Modi, during the last 11 years, raised ₹1.15 lakh crore. “The prime minister had raised loans twice the quantum of the loans that all his predecessors did,” Revanth Reddy said while castigating the economic policy of the central government.
He recalled how the first prime minister late Jawaharlal Nehru had accorded priority to irrigation projects while Indira Gandhi helped the poor by nationalising private banks. “Indira Gandhi had distributed land to the poor while Rajiv Gandhi had spearheaded the technology revolution in the country,” Revanth Reddy said.
Alleging that the BJP had become a threat to the country, Revanth Reddy said, “It is Congress alone that can deal with the BJP. All Congress workers should unite in the fight against the BJP.”
It may be noted that assuming power in Telangana, Reddy in January, signed an MoU with the Adani Group for investments of up to ₹12,500 crore.
Besides, Adani Group had also agreed to support the chief minister’s goal of creating skilling universities in Telangana. Apart from the investments, the Adani group has also been entrusted with the collection of electricity bills in the Old City of Hyderabad.
Turning to the BRS in Telangana, the chief minister wondered why the pink party was not confronting the BJP on the national scam.
“I do not care if the BRS will merge in the BJP or not,” he said but pointed out that the Hindenburg report is too big an issue for KCR to remain silent on it. “How come Twitter Tillu is not raising his voice on this count?” he said, referring to BRS working president KT Rama Rao.
The chief minister said that the BRS’ silence on Hindenburg’s report is proof enough that both the BJP and the pink party are on the same page. “The BRS should spell out its stand on the demand for JPC into the scam,” he demanded.
Revanth Reddy, raising the state issues, reiterated that the BRS cannot do anything even if ancestors of its leaders come down to earth and try to remove the Rajiv Gandhi statue and said: “If any BRS leader touches the Rajiv Gandhi statue, his back would turn into tamarind pulp.”
He ridiculed the BRS for talking about Telangana Thalli after remaining silent for 10 years.
“The real Telangana Talli is Sonia Gandhi. On her birthday on 9 December, we will instal Telangana Thalli statue on the premises of the state secretariat and prove to the entire state that the Congress is the rightful inheritor of Telangana Talli’s legacy,” he said.
He also trained his guns at the BRS for its “campaign of calumny” against Congress in the implementation of ₹2 lakh crop loan waiver scheme.
He asked the farmers not to get carried away by the BRS propaganda. “If anyone has not been covered under the loan waiver scheme, let him contact the collector instead of staging protests. If you protest you get tired but if you go to the collector, your problem would be solved.”
The chief minister said that the farmers should organise protests only if the government does not address their issues.
“Now you have your government. You are free to go to the collector’s office where officers would attend to your grievance,” the chief minister said, advising them not to trust the BRS leaders who are feigning to be concerned about their loan waiver after looting the state for 10 long years.
He said he was ready for a debate on what they (BRS) had done for farmers in the last 10 years and what he had done for them in the last 10 months.
“The BRS got 39 seats in the last Assembly election but in the next election, it would not get even nine,” he said.
(Edited by Sumvarsha Kandula.)
