The chief minister said that more than the Andhra leaders, it was the Telangana Congress leaders who harmed the state.
Published Nov 26, 2023 | 7:22 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 26, 2023 | 7:23 PM
BRS supremo addressing an election rally at Khanapur. Candidate Johnson Naik is also seen. (X)
With a few more days remaining for polling in Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday, 26 November, was overcome by emotions while speaking at an election rally in Jagtial, where he said that he was not contesting the elections for power but only to serve the state and its people.
The chief minister, while explaining the efforts he had made to make Telangana a prosperous state, said that he had no political ambitions anymore but only to see that poverty was banished from Telangana.
“I am now 70 years old. I have no desire for power. No Telugu chief minister served the state as long as I did. With your support, I was the chief minister for 10 years. If am contesting the election, it is because I have a lot to do for the state,” he said.
The chief minister pointed out that the name he got for achieving Telangana state was as large as the sky. “This is enough for me. What I am concerned about the most is the state,” he said.
“I want to see that there is no trace of poverty in Telangana. There should be 100 percent literacy like in Kerala. I want farmers to grow crops abundantly and lead a happy life. They should be able to sleep comfortably at night. Every inch of Telangana should get water,” he added.
Lashing out at the Congress, the chief minister said the Telangana Congress leaders harmed the state more than the Andhra leaders.
He recalled the then APCC president M Sathyanarayana Rao from Telangana, daring him to prove that the Congress benefited from the TRS (now BRS) in the alliance that both parties had in 2004.
The context was when he had asked him why no steps were being taken for the creation of the Telangana state though the Congress had promised to deliver a separate state at the time of striking the alliance.
“Satyanarayana Rao had said that it was the TRS which had benefited from the alliance and when I disputed it, he dared me to contest against him. I resigned and contested from Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat. But the Congress fielded T Jeevan Reddy. You blessed me with a 2.5 lakh vote majority in an expression of faith in me in taking the Telangana cause forward,” KCR said.
The chief minister said that the Congress leaders were the tormentors of farmers in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
“They used to take away the pumpsets you set up on flood flow canals and keep them in the police stations. The farmers used to come to me and complain against them. This is how they used to treat farmers,” the chief minister said.
He held the Congress leaders responsible for 58 years of Telangana’s agony. “Had they asserted themselves, we would have been spared of this trouble,” he said.
The chief minister also said that the sign of maturity of democracy was the ability of the voters to discern. They should be able to differentiate chalk from the cheese.
“Look at the parties, understand their agenda, and then vote for the right party,” he said.
