KCR, as he delivered his high-voltage address, appeared as the reincarnation of the leader he was at the peak of the Telangana movement.
BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao addresses a public meeting in the Nalgonda district of Telangana on Tuesday, 13 February, 2024. (Supplied)
Donning the role of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) for the first time after the recent Assembly election, a reloaded K Chandrashekar Rao warned the Congress government in Telangana that it should be prepared for a showdown if it were to forsake the interests of the state.
In his power-packed 45-minute address at a public meeting christened ‘Chalo Nalgonda’ on Tuesday, 13 February, he demanded that the state government bring pressure on the Centre to direct the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal to decide the “just” share of Krishna waters to Telangana within six months.
Greeting the people in the name of the Telangana movement, he asked them not to be disheartened by the electoral reverses the BRS had suffered.
“We will come back to power. This is certain. Till then, we will continue to fight for our rights as we are essentially fighters. We fought for Telangana and now we will fight for the rights of the people,” he said.
He demanded that the Congress government pay attention to safeguarding the interests of the people.
“Let the Congress government take an all-party delegation to the Centre. Let it confront the Centre on the injustice being done to the state. It has to put forth a forceful argument for permanent allocation of Telangana’s share in Krishna waters,” KCR said.
The former chief minister, as he delivered his high-voltage address, appeared as the reincarnation of the leader he was at the peak of the Telangana movement. There was a tumultuous response when he arrived at the venue.
Using a quadripod, he found his way to the dais and sitting in his chair he tore the Revanth Reddy government apart.
Addressing his first public meeting since his party @BRSparty lost the Assembly elections, former #Telangana CM and Leader of the Opposition (LoP), KCR claimed that the resolution passed in the state assembly for Krishna river water sharing is also not completely correct.
"It… pic.twitter.com/HIiMgDTKk4
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) February 13, 2024
At one stage, he said he did not mind when the people decided to let go of a milch cow for a bull, and maintained that he would fight for the rights of the Telangana state as people had asked his party to question the government.
“I have concern for the state and its people because I fought and secured Telangana state,” he said, calling the present government one that was being run by people of incomparable incompetence.
Using the choicest epithets, he chose to discredit the Congress government and its leaders. “They are nincompoops, dimwits, idiots, and simpletons. They cannot do anything for the state. They surrendered the Nagarjuna Sagar project, on which Telangana has full control, to the KRMB,” he said.
“I had been protecting it from the Centre. But within days of coming to power, Congress government let go of it,” he added.
The former chief minister said that anxious for the formation of Telangana, he had at the time of the creation of the state let the Centre decide its share of water for only one year.
“Ever since, I have been fighting with the Centre for the just allocation of Krishna waters to Telangana. The Centre even threatened to impose President’s rule, but I dared the Centre to do it and see what would happen,” he said.
The BRS supremo also challenged the Telangana government to do whatever it wanted with him.
“What do you want to do? Do you want to kill me? Can you kill the one who delivered the Telangana state? After killing me, would you remain [unharmed]? Will the people let you?” asked a combative KCR.
Making it clear that he had no political intentions behind holding the public meeting in Nalgonda, he said the purpose was that he wanted to explain to the people the dangers lurking around the corner.
“Your interests are under attack. This is not a political meeting. There are no elections now. Maybe Lok Sabha elections are there, but they would be held after three to four months. I am here to explain what the Congress government has been doing and how it is denying Krishna waters to the people,” he said.
He took strong exception to Congress leaders asking their colleagues to slap farmers if they asked for Rythu Bandhu money.
“Let them know that the farmers, too, wear footwear. The footwear they wear is made of hard leather. If they slap you once on your face, you will lose your front teeth,” he said, referring to Congress leaders.
He also wondered how incompetent the government had become so soon that it was not able to credit Rythu Bandhu amounts to farmers’ bank accounts, and was dropping hints that it would not pay the ₹500 bonus per quintal to farmers if they got MSP for their paddy.
“We will not let this happen. We will fight and would not allow them to move in Telangana if they reneged on their promises,” he said.
The former chief minister recalled how within less than one year of coming to power in 2014 he had ensured a 24-hour power supply and how power cuts had become a common occurrence within two months of the new government taking over.
“The installed capacity is more now, and yet the power supply is very irregular. This is what happens if idiots are at the helm,” he said.
The Congress government was not completing the remaining works of the Yadadri power plant that, when finished, would augment the power supply by 4,000 MW in the state, said KCR.
Instead, the government was frittering away valuable time trying to abuse the previous BRS government, he claimed.
“The agenda of the ruling party appears to be to discredit and taint us as inefficient rather than focusing its energy on ways to bring more schemes and take up more projects that would be good for the people,” he said.
The BRS chief also said: “Today, they went to Medigadda. What is there to see in Medigadda? Three piers have sunk. That is all. Kaleshwaram is not just the three pillars of Medigadda. It is a multistage elaborate lift irrigation scheme. It is but natural that such incidents like the sinking of the pier would happen,” he claimed.
“Didn’t accidents happen with the Nagarjuna Sagar Project? Isn’t it a fact that the Kadem Reservoirs’ gates were washed away? Whenever such things happen, you repair them and see that the farmers are not put to loss. Instead, if the government begins picking holes in our dispensation, the people will suffer. We will not allow this to happen at any cost,” he said.
The BRS leader said that the Nalgonda public meeting should serve as a warning to the “selfish” forces that were contemplating pilfering Telangana’s share of Krishna waters.
“I have come into your midst even though I suffered an accident. Using a walking stick, I have come here because I am anxious that Telangana should not suffer in the hands of those who have no concern for Telangana,” he said.
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