The Telangana CM said his party would better last time's score. The BRS won 88 of the 119 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections.
Published Aug 20, 2023 | 9:17 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 20, 2023 | 9:18 PM
Former Telangana Chief Minister and BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao. (File photo/Supplied)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday, 20 August, exuded confidence that the performance of the BRS in the upcoming Assembly elections would be better than in 2018.
Addressing a huge public meeting in the Suryapet district, the chief minister — also the BRS chief — said: “There is no room for any doubt. We are going to win with a huge majority. We will better our last time’s score.”
The BRS won 88 of the 119 seats in the Assembly elections in 2018.
Earlier in the day, he inaugurated an integrated district collectorate, the office for the district superintendent of police, a medical college, and a modern integrated market complex in the district.
The chief minister said he came to Suryapet to caution the people in the district and also in the state against the promises of the BJP and the Congress.
Without mentioning their names, he likened the leaders of the two parties to those who go to fields at the time of harvesting, begging for a few fistfuls of grain.
“They come with new tricks, but beware of them. The vote is a weapon with which you write your destiny. Use it wisely,” he said.
KCR targeted mainly the Congress for allegedly ignoring and discriminating against Telangana when it was in power for 50 years in unified Andhra Pradesh.
“The Congress says a three-hour power supply is enough for the farm sector. The BJP says it would fix metres to the agriculture pump sets. Do you want to vote for them?” he asked.
He flayed the Congress for requesting voters to give it one chance. “How many chances should we give the Congress? They were in power for five decades. Several leaders who were taller and more robust than me represented the Nalgonda district in the Cabinet. Did they ever think of setting up a medical college in the district?” asked the BRS chief.
He said that when the farmers were going through an agonising ordeal due to erratic power supply, and were ending their lives because they were unable to break the shackles of usury, said KCR.
The erstwhile Congress governments, under Apathbandhu (an accidental insurance scheme), paid ₹50,000 six months after receiving applications, and used to wash their hands off, said the chief minister.
Even the full amount never reached the beneficiary; it would be only about ₹10,000 or ₹20,000 at the most, he added.
KCR said that the Congress leaders never had any respect for farmers. Whenever they went to meet the ministers to talk about their grievances, they used to humiliate them by being very curt and disdainful, he claimed.
These governments did not bother to address the problems faced by farmers, he said.
Referring to the Congress’ promise of ₹4,000 as the pension to senior citizens, KCR ridiculed the party for promising the moon and failing to deliver it. “Is any Congress government in the country paying ₹4,000 as pension to the elderly?” he asked.
When it was in power in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it used to “throw” ₹200 as breadcrumbs at the people, he alleged.
The chief minister said that nothing would prevent him from saying that he would hike the Aasara pension to ₹5,000 because the Congress had promised ₹4,000, but he would not do.
“We have to take into consideration the resources available to us. I will hike your Aasara pensions as resources improve,” he said, likening running the government to managing household expenses, indicating that one had to cut the coat according to the cloth.
He said that the Congress, which won the Assembly election in Karnataka in May this year, was now at its wits’ end in the state.
“There are power supply interruptions not only in the state but also in the capital city of Bengaluru. For the farm sector, the power supply is for three hours during the daytime and four hours at night. The farmers in that state are going through the problems we faced before the creation of Telangana state,” he said.
The chief minister reiterated that the Dharani portal had made life easy for those who want to sell or purchase lands.
After the advent of Dharani, land-owners alone could transfer the title to another and no one in the government — including the chief minister — had the power, he said.
This had led to an end to the land disputes, which used to be a frustrating experience in the past, claimed KCR.
He said the Congress had declared it would wind up Dharani, “which means they want to take us back to the dark days when we had to wait interminably for the resolution of land disputes”.
He added: “Dharani is indispensable for crediting your Rythu Bandhu financial benefits.”
The chief minister, meanwhile, showered a confetti of sops on the Suryapet district:
