Sonia Gandhi visualised a "Prajala Telangana", but what it has become is a "Dorala Telangana", the senior Congress leader said at Armoor in Nizamabad.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Jagtial during his campaign in Telangana. (X)
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Rahul Gandhi once again tried to rekindle the Telangana sentiments, saying Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao took the people for a ride after Sonia Gandhi delivered the state to its people in 2014.
Addressing a whistlestop meeting from atop his campaign vehicle at Armoor in Nizamabad, he said Sonia Gandhi, while creating a separate state, had hoped that the people’s voice would be heard over everything else, but that did not happen.
“Sonia Gandhi visualised a ‘Prajala Telangana’, but what it has become is a ‘Dorala Telangana‘, he said on Friday, 20 October, the last day of his three-day bus tour of the state.
He said that after formation, Telangana became a prisoner to a corrupt family. “KCR has been robbing the people of Telangana without any respite for the past 10 years,” he said.
The MP from Wayanad in Kerala said that after the Congress came to power in the state, KCR would be made to return all the money he had misappropriated from the people.
“When I enquired with a tea-stall owner about his living conditions, he told me that life had become tough with the power tariff going up steeply,” said Rahul.
He promised that as soon as the Congress came to power, every household would get 200 units of free power, and every senior citizen would get ₹4,000 as a pension.
Gandhi said that the Congress would ensure that turmeric farmers would get ₹12,000 to ₹15,000 per quintal. “I have not come here to make promises that I cannot implement. Immediately after coming to power, all the six guarantees would be fulfilled,” he declared.
The Congress will also revive sugar factories in the region, he added.
The former AICC chief reiterated that if voted to power, the Congress would undertake a caste census in India, including in Telangana.
He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not making public the data of the caste census done by the then Congress-led UPA regime.
He said his family was indebted to the people of Telangana as they stood by the party and his grandmother Indira Gandhi when they were going through a rough patch. “We have an emotional bond with the people here,” he said.
Gandhi once again tried to expose the “covert” friendship between the BRS and the BJP and how the AIMIM was with them, serving their interests. “All three parties are the same, but the BRS is not aware that its car has a flat tyre. BRS leaders are making a beeline to join the Congress,” he pointed out.
LIVE: Public Meeting | Armoor, Telangana https://t.co/4guY41nEV4
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 20, 2023
He said that as he was fighting against the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had registered 24 cases against him.
The prime minister had been making the investigation agencies file cases against Opposition leaders who opened their mouths against him, he said, adding that there would be no cases against those who toed his line.
“Though KCR is corrupt to the core, the BJP has not filed any cases against him,” he said.
Training his guns at the AIMIM, he said the Hyderabad-headquartered party contests elections all over the country even though it has very little following. It plan is intended to split the minority vote to help the BJP win the elections.
“It is the BJP which prepares the list of assembly or Lok Sabha seats that the AIMIM should contest,” he said and asserted that the Congress would surely defeat the BRS in Telangana and the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. He appealed to the people to realise that voting for the BJP means supporting the BRS.
In a related but separate development, BRS sitting MLA in Khanapur Rekha Naik joined the Congress in Gandhi’s presence.
The Congress party, which is hoping to come to power in Telangana, started its poll campaign for the 30 November Assembly elections with Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, attacking the ruling BRS and BJP alleging that both the parties have a “tacit understanding.”
They offered prayers at the historic Ramappa Temple in Mulugu district on 18 October before kickstarting the Congress campaign and launching the Vijayabheri Yatra.
Meanwhile, Gandhi, during a roadshow, stopped at a roadside eatery and tried his hand at making a dosa. He also gave some chocolates to children, Congress sources said.
(With PTI inputs)
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